Best Friend
by KinKitsune01
Summary: I never, EVER want to become like all those girls who fall head-over-heels for him if he even sighs! I will definitely NOT fall in love with my best friend. EVER... Highschool AU, FemNaru. KibaNaruSasu, plus a few others. DISCONTINUED
1. Introducing Uzumaki Narumi!

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do own this plot.**_

**Chapter 1 – Introducing Uzumaki Narumi!**

_5:59..._

The alarm clock blared in her ears that morning.

_5:59..._

She groaned and rolled over in her bed, keeping her face buried in her pillow. Reaching towards her alarm clock she began to grasp around blindly for the infernal thing without much luck.

_5:59..._

It just kept ringing and ringing. And then there was a click, as a new hour began.

_6:00..._

_**BAM!!**_

"**Dynamic entry!!**" - came the enthusiastic yell of the man of the house, and barrelling through the door came a man in his late twenties. He flew towards the girl's bed, landing on top of her. She yelped, cursed and rolled off her bed, taking her quilt cover with her.

Rising from the tangled mess of covers, she glared heatedly at the immature 'grown up' crouching on her bed with a crazed grin on his face. She got up, letting the covers drop around her ankles,

"You bastard! How can you just attack me like that when I'm not ready? I'm barely even awake here!" she yelled at him.

The man with jet black, bowl-cut hair with incredibly thick eyebrows and a tan laughed merrily, "Its morning, Narumi! Time to get ready for the first day of your youthful freshmen year at Konoha High School! Right on!" he explained.

Uzumaki Maito Narumi widened her eyes at his explanation, and her blue eyes darted over to look at the alarm-clock which had fallen to the ground at Maito Gai's over-the-top wake-up call. She picked it up in her hands.

_6:00..._

She looked to Maito Gai sourly, "You could've let me lie in for ten minutes..." she grumbled at him.

"'Early to bed, early to rise.' It's going to take you ten minutes to wash, ten minutes to dress, ten minutes to get breakfast, and then it'll take you twenty-five minutes to get to school. Start now and you'll have fifteen minutes to spare!" Gai told her, counting off the tasks with his fingers. "Now get into that bathroom!" he added, pointing to the open door to her bedroom.

"I'm going, I'm going! Crazy..." Narumi grumbled, making her way out of her room past Gai, "_Of all the weirdoes in the world... I had to get adopted by this freak._" She thought to herself as she wandered to the bathroom.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Narumi was washed, dressed, and heading to the door with an onigiri at hand. Gai came out of his room dressed in a tracksuit jacket, green shirt and bottoms, a whistle tied around his neck with a string. He noticed Narumi on her way to the door and yelled, 

"Narumi! Wait for Lee-kun; he said he'd walk you to school today so you knew where the high school was!" he said, raising a balled fist to the fifteen year old.

Narumi looked over her shoulder and shook her head,

"What? No way, am I going to walk to school with your mini-clone!? I promised Sasuke I'd walk with him, anyway." She said and Gai raised his eyebrows.

"Ah Sasuke is it? The Uchiha boy? Fine, fine. Then Lee-kun will accompany y-" he was cut off when Narumi grabbed her school bag and left their apartment, slamming the door shut after her.

He heard the faint voice of Lee calling Narumi, and the obnoxious shouting of Narumi as she refused to walk with him. This was followed by frenzied foot-steps. Narumi was running away from Lee again.

Maito Gai sighed and grabbed his bags, went over to the door, opened the door and greeted the deflated looking Lee who stood outside his door.

"Lee-kun, do not worry! Narumi does not think poorly of you, she only wishes to walk with her friend, the Uchiha. You're a great kid, I assure you." He said, patting Lee's shoulder roughly.

"Oh, Gai-sensei I know that! But it's fine. I have my eyes set on bigger and better things after all!" Lee said, clenching his fists and staring determinedly into space, "_O' fair Sakura-san! I will win your heart even if it kills me!_" he thought.

"That's my boy! How about I give you a lift to school??!" Gai asked.

"Sorry, Gai-sensei, but I have recently learned that my love takes the public bus to school. I wish to meet up with her and travel with her." He said to Gai, bowing his head apologetically.

"No! It's fine. Good luck! I know you can do it, you have the power of youth with you!" Gai said, giving him a thumbs-up gesture and grinning toothily.

"Gai-sensei, thank you! I appreciate your support!" Lee saluted.

"No need to thank me. Just go, go and win her heart with your masculine charm!" Gai said, pointing off into the distance.

"Yes, Gai-sensei!!" Lee said, and with that he took off towards the flights of stairs to pursue his teenage-crush.

* * *

Meanwhile, Narumi was well on her way past the bus-stops and was jogging lightly towards her high school (the location of which her senpai's had described for her last year). She was dressed in her newly acquired school uniform, a green and white sailor-uniform top with green skirt, a leaf-shaped symbol emblazoned on the sleeve of her left arm. Her medium length blond hair was tied into two loose pony-tails (with thin, dark-red hair-ties,) that hung over her front, just passing her shoulders. 

-

_My name is Uzumaki Maito, Narumi. Actually, it's just Uzumaki Narumi, but ever since I was adopted by that psycho of a foster-father the second surname is obligatory, or something like that. I'm fifteen, going on sixteen this autumn, and as of now am a freshmen at Konoha High School._

_It's been a busy spring break for me, what with Maito Gai taking me up to his training grounds with Lee to 'keep me in youthful shape', so I haven't been able to see my friends once over the holidays. The most I've been able to do was chat to Kiba-kun over the phone. Sasuke wouldn't pick up his damn cell-phone but really, that didn't surprise me much._

_I can't wait 'till I get to see my mates again! I gotta admit you can come to miss Kiba and Sasuke when you haven't seen 'em for a while. I never thought I'd miss Mr. I-have-a-stick-up-my-rear, and Mr. Look-at-me-I'm-awesome. Heh._

-

Narumi grinned, and slowed down slightly to catch her breath, her brown-leather book bag clutched in her left hand. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a familiar face.

"AH! Shika!" Narumi said loudly, grinning at the teenager with his dark-brown hair tied back into a short but neat pony-tail. Nara Shikamaru let his beady black eyes move up to examine Narumi, and he smirked slightly.

"Hey Narumi." He greeted, waving his hand slightly before pocketing it again in the pocket of his own high school uniform, which consisted of a black jacket with white trims and black trousers. He wore an olive green, cotton shirt underneath it.

Narumi went over to him, holding her bag behind her with her arms crossed slightly,

"Fancy meeting you here! What're you waiting around for?" Narumi asked Shikamaru, looking around for any sign of other friends of theirs he might be meeting up with.

"Waiting for someone," Shikamaru shrugged.

"Who?" Narumi asked, her mouth shaping an 'o', "Is it Chouji?" she asked. Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks turning slightly pink,

"Nah! Chouji's getting a lift into school today from his dad." He answered, and hesitated, "I'm waiting for Temari. She made me promise to walk her to her school." Shikamaru said, looking away and muttering something about her being late and that her school was on the other side of town, practically.

Narumi grinned foxily, "Ohhh, I see now!" she said with a chuckle.

"You see what?" Shikamaru asked, glancing back at her briefly.

"You finally listened to what I kept telling you over and over again in our last year of middle school. Way to go! You _did_ confess to her, right?" she asked.

"You're so troublesome," Shikamaru sighed wearily, his cheeks getting redder; "Yes, I did. Are you happy?" he asked Narumi.

"You bet I am! I mean, Temari-senpai can be a bit cold sometimes but you two are like, a match made in heaven!" Narumi said, leaning in towards Shikamaru.

"Whatever." Shikamaru said, almost whispering.

"Oi! Shikamaru-kun, sorry I was running late. My little brother needed help finding a text-book." a female voice said, and a girl with golden-blond hair tied into four separate pony-tails, and oceanic-blue eyes walked towards the two freshmen. She looked to Narumi, "Ah, Narumi. Good morning." She said, tipping her head lightly and smirking at her.

"G'morning, Temari-senpai..." Narumi said, nervously glancing at the older girl.

She was dressed in a dark green blazer and chequered dark-blue and green knee-length skirt, with a white shirt underneath and a red-ribbon tied around her neck under the collar. (This is Temari's school uniform. She goes to different school to Narumi, Shikamaru and the others, as do Gaara and Kankurou.)

Shikamaru looked from Temari, to Narumi, and cleared his throat abruptly,

"Uh... Narumi. You're alright with this, aren't you? With me, and Temari?" he asked his friend. Narumi looked to Shikamaru quickly,

"Of course, I'm fine with it! But why are you asking me??" she asked, grinning weakly at him. Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck,

"Well I know you and Temari never really hit it off to well, and I don't want you to feel pressured to suddenly warm up to her or anything. You're my friend, and believe it or not, your opinion does matter to me. I need to know you're okay with this." He said to her.

Narumi stared at Shikamaru, her cheeks going pink.

Temari snorted, "Well, I don't care either way if you choose to accept me as Shikamaru-kun's girlfriend or not." She said; just to let Narumi know her opinion.

"Temari..." Shikamaru said tiredly to her.

"Thanks for asking me about it Shika! It'll take some getting used to, seeing Temari-senpai around more often in our group, but I'll eventually be fine with it." Narumi said, grinning widely at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru smirked at her, and nodded,

"That's good to know." He admitted.

"Narumi! This is where you were..." a male voice came within range this time, and the two girls and one boy turned their heads to the newest arrival.

"Sasuke!!" Narumi gasped loudly.

"Could you have said that any louder?" Sasuke said, rolling his eyes as he joined them, "'Morning Shikamaru... And Temari-san." He acknowledged the other two.

Temari smirked, "Still sore that I kicked your butt at tennis last year?" she asked, chuckling amusedly. Sasuke ignored her, and turned to Narumi again,

"You were supposed to pick me up a few minutes ago, from my apartment. And all this time you were here, chatting it up with Shikamaru and his girl?" Sasuke asked her.

"It was just a few minutes, Sasuke. Don't be impatient!" she said, sticking out her tongue at him. Sasuke merely grunted,

"We've got twenty minutes to get to school, now. Let's head out. Are you coming with us, Shikamaru, or do you two need 'alone time'?" Sasuke asked.

Shikamaru waved his hand, "Nah! You go ahead." He said absently. Temari grabbed his arm and linked it hers with a smug grin,

"Shikamaru-kun is walking me to school." She informed Sasuke.

"Whatever. I don't care," Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and didn't look at her, "Narumi, let's go." He said to Narumi, who nodded, and followed him as he began to walk away. She looked over her shoulder to Shikamaru,

"Don't play hooky, Shika. I don't care how troublesome school is for you!" she said to him with a grin. Shikamaru rolled his eyes,

"Yeah, yeah." He mumbled, and proceeded to be walked away by Temari.

Narumi turned to Sasuke and skipped a few steps to get up beside him. She looked up to him, as he kept his line of sight steadily trained on the path in front of him.

"So, how was spring break for you, Sasuke?" she asked, hoping to strike up a conversation.

"Same as usual," Sasuke replied shortly.

"Ah, boring then. I see." Narumi shrugged, and Sasuke grunted, "Well, wanna know what I did over the break??" she asked Sasuke. Sasuke didn't reply for a minute, and then he answered,

"Since you're gonna tell me anyway... Go for it." he answered, not really sounding interested.

Narumi grinned, and put her hands behind her head, her book bag dangling behind her head, "Gai-chichi took me and Lee-senpai up to his family's mountain lodge for the whole week. He had us go through near back-breaking training, and had us on a diet of gruel. It was disgusting, heh-heh! But, I managed to survive!" she said, and glanced at Sasuke.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

"Awww, aren't you glad to know I'm still in one piece?" she asked him.

"I'm ecstatic." Sasuke answered plainly. Narumi pouted,

"Oh, and I totally believe you. Jeez, Sasuke you have a heart of ice sometimes! Anyway, I can't believe I managed to get reception on my phone from up there. I managed to get a hold of dog-boy a few times, but... You! You turned off your phone didn't you!!?" Narumi shot him a playful glare.

"It's the perfect way to avoid listening to your voice." Sasuke shrugged and Narumi protested, "Kidding! Sakura managed to get a hold of my cell-phone number so I kept it off to avoid listening to _her_ voice." Sasuke added.

Narumi grinned instantly, "Much better! Man, but how did she get your number?" she wondered out loud.

"I don't even want to know how she did," Sasuke grumbled, scowling. Narumi laughed, and prodded Sasuke's shoulder roughly,

"Don't worry. Now I'm here to save you from your swarms of fan girls, you don't need to face them alone anymore!" Narumi said. Sasuke rubbed his arm,

"Hn." He shrugged, and the conversation continued on 'till they got to school thanks to Narumi bringing up many a random subject.

-

_This is Uchiha Sasuke... One of my first, and best friends. We met in pre-school, just like I met Inuzuka Kiba, too. As long as I've known Sasuke, he's always had a bit of a pride problem. It took me a while to get him to open up to me, but since I did he's been my closest pal. But, there's a bit of a problem with me being Sasuke's best friend... and that's all the unwanted attention it gets me from his fan club, which include two of the most annoying people I've ever met._

_Haruno Sakura, and Yamanaka Ino._

_Sakura actually used to be my friend a couple of years ago, but that was before Ino got to her head with all these rumours that Sasuke and I are... blech... 'going out'! I mean, come on, Sasuke's my friend! And he's not that good looking._

-

Narumi glanced up to Sasuke, who was oblivious to her gaze. He raised his hand and ran his slender fingers through his fine, dark hair, and gazed up to the sky with his deep, onyx eyes. Narumi looked away and pretended to be watching the cars go by on the road beside him.

-

_Okaaay... So maybe I'm lying. Sasuke is good looking. But I'd never, ever fall in love with a guy like that!! After all, I need a guy who's warm and will always be there for me. Someone who cares about me! That was if I was interested in dating right now – which I'm not!_

_And besides... I never, EVER want to become like all those girls who fall head-over-heels for him if he even sighs! Seriously, that's just pathetic!_

_I will definitely NOT fall in love with my best friend. EVER._

-

"We're here." Sasuke muttered beside Narumi, and Narumi looked to where Sasuke was looking.

Before them were the concrete columns that were the gates into Konoha High School. The outdoor grounds consisted of fresh green grass, with cherry-blossom trees planted in rows along the path-ways that snaked across the grounds like an easy-to-solve labyrinth. Also, a few park benches scattered here and there.

And beyond the outdoor grounds stood the large, seemingly-golden walled building that was Konoha High School.

Narumi breathed out in awe, "Wow!! Sasuke, this highschool is like a palace or something, don't you think? Tenten-senpai's description really didn't do it justice at all. And check out all the cherry blossom trees!" Narumi said.

"Please don't indirectly remind me of her." Sasuke grumbled.

"Whoops!" Narumi grinned cheekily, "C'mon! Let's get inside. I'll bet Kiba-kun's already here, since he had an early morning paper-round to do." Narumi grabbed Sasuke's arm and began dragging him towards the building.

"Let go." Sasuke said sharply, trying to tug his arm free.

"No way!" Narumi laughed.

"_They_ will see you." Sasuke warned her.

"Those dumb fan girls can see whatever the hell they want!" Narumi retorted, "Come on!" she said again, pulling him along.

Sasuke pulled himself free of her grasp, pocketed his hands and smirked to her annoyed expression. He then walked straight past her and towards the building,

"I'm not waiting for you, Narumi." Sasuke said, his tone slightly teasing.

"Graah! Sasuke, wait for me!" she gasped, and jogged after him. "Jerk!" she called after him, and Sasuke ignored her comment.

* * *

"Damn it, where'd he go? This is just great," a teenage boy groaned, rummaging through his locker frantically for the missing 'object' in question. After a few moments of searching, he stepped back and ran his fingers through his short, messy brown bangs with an irritated frown planted on his face. 

He was around the age of 15 to 16, and had sharp eyes. His cheeks had red-fang like markings painted on them, as if he were a tribal warrior. It was a family thing really, and he thought it made him look tough. Underneath the black of his school uniform he wore a baggy dark-red shirt, and tied to a black string around his neck was a small, white canine tooth, probably from some kind of wolf.

"The headmaster is going to _kill_ me, once he or she finds out..." he grumbled to himself sorely, and was snapped out of his contemplation by a familiar voice.

"Oi! Kiba-kun, g'morning!" the obnoxious greeting came, filling the halls.

Inuzuka Kiba instantly grinned, forgetting his 'problem at hand', and turned to face Narumi as she ran towards him. He barely spotted Sasuke following up her entrance wordlessly.

"Naru!" Kiba nearly barked, and pulled her head under his arm, playfully scrubbing her head, "I haven't seen your face in ages! How was your _survival training_ in the mountains? You seem to be in one piece, still." Kiba said. Narumi laughed and pulled out of his loose hold, fixing her pig-tails that had been messed up by his 'head-scrub'.

"Glad to know somebody cares." She shrugged, "It was pretty cool. I feel a hundred times stronger. I'll bet I can pin you easy, now!!" she said.

"How much are you willing to bet?" Kiba snorted. Narumi pouted at him,

"Are you implying that I'm an easy win or something? I'll kick your ass!" she said, punching his shoulder.

"Weak!" Kiba laughed, "500 yen says you'll not be able to pin me." He bet.

"1000 yen says I can!!" Narumi shot back.

"It's a _date_!" Kiba smirked.

"Very funny!" Narumi said sarcastically.

"'Was worth a shot." Kiba shrugged.

"Can we _please_ get to class, now?" Sasuke said impatiently, frowning at his loud friends. Honestly, it was like they were doing it on purpose. His fan girls were sure to hear those two and assume they'd find him there too, which they would. He didn't need that right now, not on the first day of school.

"You ruin all the fun, Sasuke!" Kiba rolled his eyes, and slung an arm around Narumi's shoulder, "Well, to the classroom, then. I came in early to find out what our classes were since I had that early-morning paper round anyway. We're in classroom 1-B." He explained, walking Narumi off. Sasuke silently followed again.

-

_Inuzuka Kiba, my best friend since the age of 5, and he's always been a real great friend to me. We lived in the same neighbourhood and met at the local park. Kiba's family are really in tune with dogs - their family runs some sort of dog clinic in their own home. Sometimes I think Kiba and his family can talk to dogs, 'cause it seems like they always know just what's wrong with them, like a sixth sense or something. Whatever it is, it's a wicked talent!_

_Kiba and Sasuke have always had some sort of rivalry with each other, especially in sports. (Sasuke's on the tennis team, and Kiba's on the football team.) So they're sometimes at each other's throats, sorta, but most of the time they just tease each other vaguely. No matter what, they're my good friends._

_And of course I'm always the one to break them up! 'Cause that's what friends are for!_

-

"Oh, and Naru?" Kiba suddenly looked down to Narumi who was still thinking. Narumi's gaze snapped up to look at Kiba, giving him a lop-sided grin,

"Yeah, Kiba-kun?" she asked.

"I think Tenten-senpai and Neji-senpai were looking for you. They seemed kinda mad..." Kiba said, trailing off.

"_Oh crap! They're actually mad at me for that??_" Narumi thought to herself, letting her eyes go wide. "Th-they are?!" Narumi asked.

"Yeah. Something about a prank. Wanna fill in the blanks for me?" Kiba sent Narumi a knowing smirk, "What did you do?" He asked, as if he knew already, anyway.

"Ahh! It's nothing really! Everything I did was in their best interest. C'mon, let's get to class!" Narumi exclaimed, jogging ahead of her two male friends.

Kiba looked at Sasuke, who shrugged.

"_Playing match-maker again, ah, Naru?_" Kiba thought, and laughed to himself, going to catch up with her. Sasuke just let them go. You got nowhere by rushing. Actually, since when did Narumi rush to get to class??

* * *

A teenage girl with short pink hair slouched down in her seat with a deep sigh, looking frustratedly at the chalk board at the front of her classroom with her emerald green eyes. She was hoping she could start off her first day as a freshman nice and easy, but the gods had not been with her when he showed up at her bus-stop. 

"_When will he just _get_ that I don't want to go out with him. He's _so_ not my type... And those eyebrows—_Ugh_ I don't even want to _think_ about it!_" she shivered, and hugged her arms.

"What's eating you, forehead?" came a teasing female voice.

"Not today, Ino-pig..." Haruno Sakura groaned, burying her face amongst her arms.

Standing beside her, her friend and rival Yamanaka Ino looked down on her with her trimmed eyebrows arched with amusement. Her long, blond hair was tied back into a neat, flowing ponytail, and her cerulean blue eyes glittered in the morning light.

"Sakura-chan... Tell me what's up? It can't be that you're nervous about a new term, you're like the brainiest girl I know!" Ino said and Sakura shrugged; Ino smirked, "Or is it that you're nervous about how you're going to get _him_ to favour you over yours-truly. It'll be pretty tough; I can understand why you're like this." She said smugly.

Sakura raised her head to glare at Ino,

"It's got _nothing_ to do with Sasuke-kun. And stop acting so smug about it!" she retorted, "I'm actually just worn out, because _he_ was waiting for me at my bus-stop today." Sakura said, frowning and looking ahead again.

"Eh? Who?" Ino asked her.

"Ugh... Lee-san," Sakura answered tiredly. Ino grinned,

"Oh I get it now. Hee-hee!" she laughed lightly. Sakura growled,

"Not funny, Ino," Sakura said.

Suddenly a few of their other female classmates began squealing happily and Ino and Sakura knew just what that meant. Sakura shot up from her desk, pushing her chair back, and raced to the front hoping to beat her rival there. Into the classroom came Sasuke, Kiba and Narumi. Narumi instantly got in front of Sasuke and posed as a barricade, blocking the onslaught of five of Sasuke's fan girls, (Sakura and Ino included).

"Back off, vile beasts!" Narumi exclaimed, making frantic waving motions.

"Narumi, get out of the way!" Sakura snapped at the blond girl. Another person entered the room, ready to dispel the impending chaos with a wave of his hand. He stared blankly at the possible cat-fight-to-be through his messy silver locks, then decided to do his job.

"Okay that's enough, everyone. Let's all settle down, and find a seat. I'll start with the register. If anyone wants to do otherwise, let's just say you don't want a detention on your first day being on your personal record now, do you?" he asked the students, and in what seemed like a flash, everybody rushed to grab a seat.

Sakura resumed her seat in the second third row back, second column from the left, Ino being two seats to her left (next to the window), and a large, light-brown haired boy in between them, discreetly snacking on some chips. Behind Sakura, sat a silent boy wearing a black hat, and shades; his hands were laced together in front of his lower-face. Kiba took a seat at the front, dead in the centre, and confidently slouched back with his arms crossed; he looked sceptically at the laid-back looking teacher before him. Narumi sat at the front to Kiba's left, and Sasuke sat at the very back, next to the window, he like the silent boy with his hands in front of his face.

As for their teacher, he was in his late twenties, one would guess. His thick, silver hair covered his left eye, and he wore what looked like some sort of surgical face mask over his nose and mouth.

"_Maybe he's on quarantine or something??_" Narumi guessed, but she was probably way off. Oh well!

The silver-haired guy cleared his throat, and lifted his clip board and mechanical pencil, "Okay, so my name is... Hatake Kakashi. You will call me 'Kakashi-sensei'. I've just started as a teacher here but I assure you I have ample experience as a teacher. And... That's all you need to know. Now, the register, if you'll cooperate." Kakashi said, and proceeded with calling out the names in alphabetical order.

"_Well he's an interesting one at least..._" Narumi thought absently; she glanced at Kiba, who was looking sceptical still. Narumi quietly laughed, "_Kiba-kun probably thinks they picked this guy off the street or something-_" Narumi was caught off when a knock at the door came.

Kakashi glanced towards the door through the corner of his eye, "Come in." He said evenly, and the door slid open. "And you are?" Kakashi asked the new arrival.

There stood a rather tired, and annoyed looking Nara Shikamaru. He grumbled to himself, then answered,

"Nara Shikamaru, sir. Sorry I'm late. I got... held up." Shikamaru hesitated while thinking up his excuse, "_Damn Temari, her school really was on the other end of town._" He thought to himself.

"Nara Shikamaru, huh... Well, I'm in a good mood so I'll excuse your tardiness just this once," Kakashi ticked off Shikamaru's name, remembering the briefing he'd gotten on this guy by the school's mathematics teacher. '_A genius_,' was what he had called him.

"Take your seat, there, in front of... Yamanaka-san?" Kakashi said, glancing at Ino. Ino nodded, and Shikamaru went over to take his seat.

Kakashi put down his register, and looked across his first batch of students with a placid expression. They were a unique bunch all right. This would be an interesting year. He grinned invisibly, "Well, let's begin shall we?" he asked them.

* * *

_**...to be continued!**_

* * *

**NOTE**- Well, it might just be my lack of confidence when it comes down to starting off a new story, but I thought this first chapter sucked. O.o' I'll let you be the judge, then. And a translation note; 'chichi' is basically another Japanese way of calling one's 'father'. Narumi didn't like the idea of calling Maito Gai, 'Otousan'. xD; 


	2. The First Day of School!

**Kin:** Okay, first off... Holy cow! I expected a few reviews and all since I'd advertised this 'fic in Kitsune no Shoujo, but I seriously wasn't expecting to get into 6 c2's already. And so many subscribers and additions to favourite-stories lists. _Thank you very, very much!_ I hope you like this chapter, too.

-

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do own the plot.**_

* * *

**Chapter 2 – First Day of School!**

_Zzzz..._

27 year old English teacher for Konoha High School, Umino Iruka allowed his eyebrows to twitch repetitively. He was trying his best to keep his cool, but this had been going on for the past twenty minutes and he really was reaching his limit.

Finally, he caved, and took his ruler. He slammed it down on the desk of Inuzuka Kiba with a harsh crack, startling the boy into consciousness,

"Inuzuka-kun, if my lectures are so boring, then perhaps you need a few extra hours to grasp their importance... after school, perhaps?" he asked Kiba, who shook his head.

"Ah, no! No, that's okay! I was listening I swear! Don't put me on detention..!" Kiba said, "_But his lectures _are_ incredibly boring. He expected someone like _me_ to stay conscious?_" he added mentally.

He then looked around to see if anyone else seconded his notion by also sleeping. To his right, Narumi was wide awake and smirking at him knowingly. He inwardly cursed and turned to the guy he was sure would be sleeping through it, be it boring or not.

Shikamaru was also wide awake, and sending him mental messages of '_what're you looking at me for?_' and the standard '_troublesome_' as an extra comment.

Kiba sighed to himself. He was in this one alone.

"Since it's the first day," Iruka began thoughtfully and Kiba looked hopeful, "I'll let you off just this once. But if I see you sleeping through my classes ever again, I'm not giving you any more chances. You got that?" he asked the Inuzuka, who punched the air in triumph.

"I've understand! Thanks, Umino-sensei!" Kiba nearly howled, pleased at being let off the hook. Iruka sweat-dropped,

"I already said I don't like formalities. Just call me Iruka," he said, rubbing the back of his neck out of habit, "Okay, so we'll continue on from where we left o—" He was cut off as the bell for break time came. He sighed out irritably, and massaged his forehead. "Okay, so I guess you can—" Iruka stopped, seeing most of his students already on their way out.

"_You're going too easy on them, Iruka,_" he told himself, "_You've got to be assertive. Assertive! If you don't, they're never gonna respect and listen to you. Jeez, I've got to work on that._" He thought to himself.

It _was_ his first day teaching high-school kids. He used to be a middle school teacher in another area until recently, and wasn't used to handling older kids... Maybe if he stuck at it and tried harder, they'd start to pay attention to what he was saying, and would stop sleeping in class. And so with that thought in his head he went to the staff room to see if he could find other teachers to chat with.

* * *

Meanwhile, Narumi, Kiba, Shikamaru, Sasuke and one other kid were already on their way to meet up with their other friends. The other kid was a big guy, with light-brown, longer hair that was brushed back slightly but nonetheless messy. He carried with him a bag of potato chips that he munched at avidly. 

Narumi prodded Kiba teasingly, "Haa, caught again, Kiba-kun!" she said with a big smirk, "Just like middle-school, you can't survive a lecture without nodding off. I thought maybe entering high school would make you more mature," Narumi said.

Kiba turned pink slightly,

"Shut up! I stayed up late last night playing on the X-box, and then had my paper-round today at like, 4 in the morning! I have a perfectly liable excuse for falling asleep in class." He said, pouting a little.

"Another all-nighter? Kiba, that's unhealthy. And troublesome, to boot. The game can't be _that_ great," Shikamaru commented.

"Are you kidding?! It's only the greatest game ever. The reviewers in Gamers Weekly said so themselves!" Kiba argued, turning to point at Shikamaru accusingly, as if his little comment meant he was mocking said game.

The big guy at Shikamaru's side, his best friend Akimichi Chouji, swallowed what he was eating to speak,

"Shikamaru has a point! It was okay to do during the holidays since that's free-time but you should really get to bed at a reasonable time during the school term. That way, you wouldn't fall asleep during class and miss important stuff." He explained.

Kiba snorted out, "Whatever!" he said, turning away as if he were sulking. Narumi was about to poke fun at him, when two others joined the group.

"Narumi, there you are." a deep, masculine voice said.

"Yeah, we've been looking all over for you, Narumi!" a light, feminine voice said, sounding annoyed.

"AH!! N-Neji-senpai..! Tenten-senpai..!" Narumi yelped, jumping a couple of feet away due to shock and shielding her face with her arms. She stepped slightly behind Sasuke, who didn't appreciate being used as a human shield.

There stood two of their senpai-tachi, Hyuuga Neji and Yamada Tenten. Neji was tall, slim and had long, dark brown hair which he tied back into a loose ponytail. Loose bangs hung over his pale lavender eyes, which had a stoic edge. He wore the same school uniform as Sasuke and the other boys, and buttoned up most of it, leaving only the top few buttons loose to reveal a white v-neck shirt.

Standing quite close to Neji, Tenten wore the same uniform as Narumi, but with a longer skirt that passed the knees slightly, with black stockings that covered up to her shins.

-

_Neji-senpai and Tenten-senpai are a year above Kiba, Sasuke and I. Neji is captain of the Karate club, so he's no pushover that's for sure; it's a good thing I'm on friendly terms with his cousin whom he seems to care about. His skills are crazy – He could take you out before you could blink. __And if his martial arts weren't enough, Neji-senpai's also a genius. It's like he knows everything! But will he help me with my homework? __Nooooo! Humph!_

_But at heart he's a caring, loyal guy... It's just _really_ hard to see that sometimes._

_And Tenten-senpai is on the girls' archery team, and I remember she was always a main representative for the school__ in tonnes of other sports, too; softball and swimming especially. Tenten-senpai's always been really into sports and keeping fit, and because of that there's nobody that can out-do her in sports, not even the guys... At least, nobody's been able to yet._

_A year or so back, my friend Hyuuga Hinata had introduced __us,__ and Tenten-senpai to her cold cousin. Ever since, Tenten-senpai's had this sparkling admiration for his excellent athletic skills. But pretty soon, that admiration seemed to turn into something else._

_Which was why I decided to help my friend__ out.__ It seems she isn't pleased about it__, though. Oh boy..._

_-_

"Narumi, we need to talk to you about that little prank of yours, which you pulled before spring break." Neji told Narumi, asking Sasuke to step aside, which he complied with doing easily. Narumi gasped at Sasuke,

"You traitor..." she grumbled at him, and then grinned nervously at Neji and Tenten, "Eheheh. I can explain that," Narumi started.

"Please do. Neji-kun and I would love to know why you _locked us in a storage c__upboard_ together." Tenten said edgily.

Narumi gulped, "Uh, well you see..." she began, but Kiba began to laugh loudly.

"So _that's_ what you did to get them so mad?" he asked Narumi, holding his stomach with mirth. Narumi sighed out loudly,

"Yeah, I did! And I don't regret it. Tenten-senpai, you'd always been saying how you wanted to get to know him better, so... Ehehe, I thought maybe if—" she began, and Neji raised his hand to silence her.

"You thought that if you locked us in a small space together, we'd become closer friends." He finished, and Narumi mutely nodded, pressing her index fingers together like a friend of hers, Hinata would. Neji sighed, running his fingers through his hair and closing his eyes, "While I think that's a thoughtful thing to do for a friend..." he trailed off uncertainly.

Tenten stared at Narumi, "Seriously? _That's_ why you did it?" she asked Narumi, who nodded once again. Tenten thought it over for a moment, before smiling a little, "You went about it the entirely wrong way, Narumi." She told Narumi cheerily.

"Eh??" Narumi widened her eyes at Tenten's sudden jovial tone. "You're— You're not mad at me?" she asked hopefully. Tenten nodded,

"Of course I'm mad at you!" she said, and went over to Narumi, pulling her into a side-ways hug, "Look, I know I said I wanted to get to know Neji-kun better, but locking me in a cupboard with him was a bit much, don't you think?" she asked Narumi.

Narumi blushed, "I'm sorry..." she mumbled out.

"What was that? You'll have to speak up," Neji said grumpily. So what if Tenten was willing to forgive and forget. He was still rather unamused with the prank; he and Tenten _had_ landed in a very embarrassing position, after all. They were lucky nobody was around with a camera.

"Aw, don't be so harsh on her! We came here to say we're okay with it, _didn't_ we?" Tenten asked Neji, who sighed and reluctantly nodded.

"Eh?" Kiba raised his eyebrows, "You're not gonna punish her?" he asked Tenten and Neji.

"Not really, just give her a scare by making her _think_ we were going to." Tenten said, and laughed when Narumi gasped, "We're willing to let it slide this time because Narumi actually succeeded, with her plan," Tenten said with a grin and the others looked confused.

Neji decided to fill in the gaps,

"We were locked in the cupboard for _six_ hours, so of course, Tenten and I _did_ talk with each other. We've become better acquainted and spent time together over the holidays as well." Neji said.

Tenten nodded, "And Neji-kun even took me out to see Orange Range over spring break and we had lots of fun together. Orange Range were awesome, by the way!" Tenten added. Neji looked away awkwardly,

"You didn't need to tell them that, Tenten..!" he said quietly, and Tenten giggled at him. Narumi let her jaw hang loose,

"_It really _did_ work... I've _never_ seen Neji__ get nervous like that..!__ Sweet! Go me!_" Narumi grinned as she thought this; then her face fell, "Hold on a second... You got to see Orange Range?!" Narumi gasped at Tenten, pouting.

Tenten laughed, and did a peace-sign at her, "Yeah, they're even more awesome when they're playing live! You really missed out on a good one, Narumi-chan!" she said, smirking knowingly.

Narumi inwardly cried, "_Waah__! I missed Orange Range's concert 'cause of stupid Gai-chichi's survival training. Damn you, Tenten, rubbing it in my face!_" she thought, and turned away pouting.

"Uhh... Naru, are you okay?" Kiba asked Narumi, but she didn't hear him. Sasuke watched her sulk, then rolled his eyes at her. The bell then rang, snapping Narumi out of it.

"AH! Darn it, we were supposed to meet up with Hinata-chan! She's gonna be wondering where we were!" Narumi said.

* * *

"I'm so sorry, Hinata-chan!" Narumi put her hands together as if begging for forgiveness in front of the girl. Hinata was a little taller than Narumi, and had medium length raven hair held back with a few light-purple hair-clips. She too wore the girls' uniform, with a longer skirt like Tenten. 

They were currently waiting outside the school store where they were selling bread and drinks for the students to eat. They'd gotten there late because of going to pick up Hinata, (Neji's cousin, who was in class 1-A,) on their way there. Kiba stood to Narumi's right while Hinata was on her left.

Hinata shook her head, and raised her hands slightly to gesture that it was okay with a shy smile,

"I-It's really alright, Narumi-san. I'm sure you had your reasons for not coming. I got to talk to Shino-kun anyway so I wasn't alone..." Hinata replied.

-

_Hyuuga Hinata. T__he __cousin of Neji-senpai and one of my best friends... She's nothing like him at all! Where Neji-senpai gives off a cold, distant aura, Hinata-chan is gentle, kind and always trying to help out. She got into a higher grade class, because she's way smarter than we of class B. (__I'm surprised Sasuke, Shikamaru and Sakura didn't get in, actually... they've got the brains for it, that's for sure.)_

_Since she's in a different class we don't get to take a lot of the same classes together, which is a real bummer... But Hinata wouldn't want me to be mad over it, which is why I like her so much. She's like a little sister to me!_

_Oh, and don't tell anyone, but I think Kiba __liiiikes__ her! __Heheheh._

_Wait a __second,__ did she just say she was talking to _Shino?

_-_

Narumi looked up at Hinata with a surprised look,

"Eh!? Sh-Shino??" Narumi asked, and Kiba seemed worried. He leaned towards Hinata and gestured to whisper something in her ear,

"Psst. He didn't.. try to show you his bug-collection again, did he?" he asked her suspiciously.

"Eh?? Sh-Shino-kun doesn't collect insects, Kiba-kun! He was actually very good company..." Hinata said, and began to prod her fingers together nervously, "Kiba-kun, why do you always try to avoid Shino-kun? He's a good person." Hinata said quietly.

Kiba smacked her back roughly, causing her to step forwards with a gasp,

"I know that, Hinata-chan! I was just messing with you. Yeah, I know Shino's alright... Though he's majorly creepy." Kiba said. Narumi nodded in agreement,

"Totally. He never talks, after all. Makes you think he's trying to _hide_ something." she inputted.

"Um... I don't think Shino-kun is-" Hinata began nervously.

"-Yeah, but what could he be hiding? Maybe a body... He _does_ act like he's from one of those yakuza films or something." Kiba agreed, Hinata's words having been too quiet for him to catch.

"Or maybe it's money from a heist!" Narumi continued, getting into the conversation.

"W-wait, Narumi-san, Kiba-kun...! Shino-kun is-" Hinata was cut off by another voice that had decided to speak for itself.

"I'm right here, you know. And it's not a good idea to develop such stories when you don't even know the person's true nature in the first place. Otherwise you're just spreading false rumours. And when false rumours are spread there is a possibility that the person's reputation could be forever tarnished... And we wouldn't want that." the voice said.

Kiba and Narumi jumped with surprise and stepped quickly away from the new arrival; the quiet boy from their class who wore thick dark shades that obscured his eyes, and a hat to cover his dark-brown hair. From observing the arcs of his eyebrows, (his lower face being covered by his uniform jacket's strangely oversized collar,) his eyes may have been throwing them a glare.

"Sh-Shino...!" Kiba gasped, and took a few breaths to calm himself, "Don't do that, man. You scared the hell outta me!" Kiba complained, clawing at his chest to calm himself down. Shino ignored this, and turned to Hinata,

"I got you melon bread." He said, handing her the small loaf. Hinata graciously accepted it,

"Thank you very much, Shino-kun...!" she said, smiling to the tall boy. Kiba and Narumi looked to one another, then grinned, holding their hands out towards Shino, who was bringing out some more bread. Shino glanced at them,

"These are not for you." He told them bluntly.

"But there're four loafs there!" Narumi gasped, "You're honestly gonna eat them all yourself??!" she asked him.

"I never thought you were that big of an eater..." Kiba said, in awe.

"Don't be stupid." Shino said. Hinata smiled nervously,

"Shino-kun told me, that he was going to feed the birds outside. I-I'm going with him, so if you'll excuse me..." she bowed her head lightly and began to walk away with Shino. Kiba let his jaw drop. Narumi gasped,

"What?! You're abandoning us!? Hinata-chaaaan! I'm sorry I didn't come see you at break, just come back!" Narumi yelled down the corridors after one of her only female friends. Kiba sighed irritably,

"Forget 'em, Naru. Let's just get something to eat before there's nothing left." Kiba said while putting his hand on the back of her head and walking her towards the school store. Narumi awkwardly followed under the force of his hand, and the two got whatever was left after the majority of students had purchased the rest.

Once they were done, they began over to where the others would be waiting for them with their bread.

* * *

Meanwhile, a young woman in her late twenties sat going through papers and sorting them, inside her homeroom classroom. She had medium-length dark-brown wavy hair, and crimson-red eyes. Her lips were full, and rouged with red lipstick. She wore a dark-red sweater along with a green skirt that reached her knees, and a silver necklace around her neck. 

Her name was Yuuhi Kurenai, and she was the Japanese language teacher for Konoha High School. She took her job very seriously, and was dedicated to her work, not to mention a bit of a perfectionist when it came to this. Most of the time, her students commented that she was too stern, but she _did_ have a soft side. And there was only a certain guy who could bring that out... Her husband.

There was a whimpering noise followed by a shuffling sound, which caused Kurenai to look up from her work instantly.

Behind one of the seats, a brown jacket could be seen moving around confusedly.

Curious, Kurenai investigated. And under the jacket, she found...

"...A dog?" she spoke out loud, surprised. Then, she realised who this dog belonged to. Grabbing it by its thick fur around the neck, she lifted the cream-coloured dog with brown ears and carried it out of the classroom discreetly, under the brown jacket it had been hiding under.

* * *

"Okay so I went to VideoMania and bought this film called "The Never-ending Story". It was... okay, but I'm gonna sue those guys, for sure! It ended! What a rip-off!" Kiba announced, sitting amongst the group outside by the trees. Narumi laughed out loud; not because it was funny, but because Kiba thought it was funny. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, looking over from the clouds he had previously been observing, 

"Kiba, that's quite possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say." He said to Kiba.

"What do you know!?" asked Kiba, shooting a scowl at him.

"Kiba... He knows a lot more than you do, that's for sure. And he _i__s_ right." Sasuke mentioned to Kiba, who redirected his glare to Sasuke.

"What a lame joke!" Chouji chimed in, before returning to his bag of chips.

"Forget you guys! You just can't realise my comedic genius!" Kiba pouted, turning away and folding his arms. A shadow towered over him and he opened his eyes, "K-K-K—" He just couldn't get the words out.

"Hello to you, too, Kiba." Kurenai rolled her eyes at him.

"Kurenai-sensei!" Kiba finally got his words out, "Why are you _here_??" he asked her.

"Promotion." Kurenai shrugged her shoulders, and brought the small dog from behind her back. The little guy whimpered at Kiba, seeming guilty for something, "I believe he belongs to you? You know pets aren't allowed in school. You better be thankful that it was only me who found him." She said, as Kiba took the dog in his own arms.

"Akamaru! Where've you been, buddy? I was worried sick...!!" Akamaru held the dog, Akamaru close to him, and let out a relieved sigh.

"Worried sick, huh... Today, you were more concerned on things like video-games, jokes, and food." Shikamaru said, and Chouji nodded in affirmative.

"Say what?! I was _too_ worried about 'im. Why wouldn't I be!?" Kiba whined. Narumi grinned,

"Well you didn't exactly mention how Akamaru-chan was missing." She offered lazily. Kiba hung his head in shame. Kurenai looked to Narumi with raised eyebrows,

"Hey, you must be Narumi, am I right?" she asked Narumi, who looked to her with surprise and nodded; Kurenai smirked, and kneeled down by Kiba, "Good job. She's cute." She told Kiba. Kiba flushed and crawled away from her.

"What're you spouting!!?" he yelped. Kurenai chuckled, and stood up with a grunt,

"Just don't let me catch you with a pet on the premises again or it's detention for you, Kiba..." she said, turning away and leaving the group. Narumi raised her eyebrows,

"Kiba-kun?" she asked Kiba, patting his shoulder. Kiba looked to her dazedly,

"Euh..?" he asked, blinking. Narumi grinned,

"We wouldn't want you getting a detention on your first day, now would we? Let's hide Akamaru-chan some place they'll never think to look." She said, pulling Kiba up to a stand abruptly, causing him to stumble.

"Oi, what about class?" asked Sasuke, looking at her curiously.

"Ahh, we'll make it in time! Cover for us, if we're running late, okay Sasuke? Later, you guys!" Narumi said, and began tugging Kiba way, "C'mon! Keep him hidden, Kiba-kun!" she said to the brown-haired boy.

"I am! Stop pulling...!" Kiba gasped.

Sasuke tsked, and looked down at his hands which hung over his knee-caps with a frown on his face. Shikamaru and Chouji watched after them as they left curiously, and then Chouji looked to the sky.

"I just remembered. Where're our senpai-tachi?" he asked, wondering about Tenten and Neji who were supposed to meet them for dinner.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a sports' storage cupboard the senpai in question were hiding. Tenten, of course, wondered why, and asked Neji why he'd pulled her into the cupboard. After all, this was the second time they were stuck in the _same_ cupboard in less than a month, and she didn't want to have to make a habit of it. 

"Apparently," Neji hissed, scowling, "Word got out about our outings during spring break, and my fan-club is after us. But mostly, they're afteryou. And I trust you don't feel like getting mauled by them, any time soon." He said.

Tenten sweat dropped, "You... have a fan-club, Neji-kun?" she asked him with a small smile.

Neji grinned a little, "Of course." He said bitterly, "They're all crazy." He added. Tenten stifled a laugh,

"I guess you and Sasuke have that in common." She said.

"Hn. I guess." Neji nodded.

And so the little conversation in the cupboard commenced until lunch break finished and the coast was clear.

* * *

_**...to be continued!**_

* * *

**NOTES**

**1.** Orange Range is a J-rock band. If you haven't heard of them, try listening to them sometime. They're quite good! I chose them because of... well... Orange! XP;

**2.** Melon bread, a type of Japanese snack that is sold in student's stores. It's like a cafeteria, students either buy stuff there or pack their own lunch ('obento').

**3.** Akamaru's size; He's still relatively small in my 'fic. Otherwise, how could Kiba have smuggled him into school?

**4.** "senpai-tachi" plural of 'senpai'.

**Kin**: Oh, and ShinoxHinata may become an official pairing in this story... If you approve of it, that is... Thank you very much for reading, and until next time!


	3. Of DDR, and the Sabaku Siblings!

**Kin: **Sorry for taking so long on this new chapter. I had writer's block for the last two scenes... and I got distracted by my Quizilla account. xD;

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do own the plot.**_

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Of DDR, and the Sabaku Siblings!**

_Whoosh! ...Smash!_

The small, lime-green ball flew across the court and smashed into the railings behind one of the two competitors, who looked pretty darn surprised. He fell back onto his rear end, shakily, and grinned to his opponent.

"Nice work, kohai." He said to the Sasuke, who stood casually at the other end of the court, dressed in a white shirt and dark-blue shorts that reached his knees. He simply put his free hand on his waist and the other swinging the racket around near the ground.

"Hn." Sasuke shrugged his shoulders lightly.

Watching from behind the railings, Ino squealed fanatically at Sasuke's victory over the head of the Tennis club, while Sakura watched on amazedly.

"Sasuke-kun!! That was totally amazing! You're so cool!" Ino shouted enthusiastically to him, waving at him from beside Sakura.

"Takada-senpai was rumoured to be ready for the school-wide Tennis tournament. Sasuke-kun beating him really is something," Sakura said, smiling dreamily at her dark-haired crush.

Sasuke grabbed his water-bottle from his duffel bag, and took a sip from it. His onyx eyes then flashed over to meet with Sakura's emerald ones, before quickly looking away again as Takada called him over. Sakura smiled a little, feeling hopeful from this moment. And then Ino butted in to said moment, (thus ruining it completely,)

"Oooooh! Did you see that, forehead?! Sasuke-kun looked at _me_!" Ino said excitedly.

"No he didn't!" Sakura gasped, turning to Ino with a glare. Ino glanced at Sakura curiously, then smirked,

"Ah... Is forehead _jealous_?" Ino asked coyly.

"I am not, you pig!!" Sakura screeched indignantly. Over with Sasuke and Takada, Sasuke discreetly rolled his eyes,

"_I just look in their direction and they'll argue... Not even me and Kiba argue that much._" He thought to himself, then looked to Takada.

"Your technique _is_ very impressive, Sasuke-kun. We'll accept you into the Tennis club, but... this doesn't mean you'll get to be a regular yet. I am still your senpai, after all." He said, and grinned cheekily, "You'll be collecting our tennis balls, I'm afraid." He said with a chuckle.

"Che!" Sasuke scowled, "_Stupid rules..._" he thought.

"OI! Chicken-butt!!" came a familiar voice, causing Sasuke to put his face in his palm, and Takada to choke back a snort.

Sasuke sighed, and turned to where Kiba was waiting at the entrance to the court. He was currently getting told off by Sakura, who was threatening him with her fist. Ino was also glaring holes in his head and asking him what that nickname was implying, exactly.

"I have to go," Sasuke bowed his head to his senpai slightly, and Takada nodded. With that Sasuke grabbed his duffel-bag, and his drink, and joined Kiba and the girls. "Kiba... What is it?" he asked, choosing to forget Kiba had even _made_ that rude comment on his hairstyle.

Kiba gestured a '_take it easy_' to Ino and Sakura, and grinned to Sasuke, "Me, Naru, Shikamaru, his girl, and her little brothers are all going to get drinks, and play some DDR. Are you coming with'?" Kiba asked him.

Sasuke folded his arms, "And if I don't want to come..?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's not an option, dude! You still owe me a rematch in DDR, you _cheater_!" Kiba balled his fist at Sasuke and Sakura and Ino glared at him.

"I don't cheat." Sasuke said, smirking at Kiba.

"Yeah! How dare you accuse Sasuke-kun of something like that!!" Sakura spat at Kiba, balling her own fist at him again.

"You're just jealous, because Sasuke-kun could beat you at anything, be it a sport or an arcade game! There's probably nothing, that Sasuke-kun isn't a natural pro' at." Ino said, seeming smug as she folded her arms and smirked at him.

"Shut up!! You stay out of mine and Sasuke's affairs; it's none of your business anyway!" Kiba growled, glaring at the girls.

"We will not!" Sakura and Ino said together, glaring back at him.

Sasuke sighed, and grabbed the collar of Kiba's uniform, dragging him away from them without a word of warning.

"Sasuke-kun? Where are you going??" Sakura asked, surprised.

"Home." Sasuke muttered, "And you better not follow me this time," he whispered with a scowl. Ino shook a fist at Kiba,

"Don't think this is over, _dog-breath_!!" Ino yelled at him.

"Ooh, nice insult! I don't think I've _ever_ heard that one, before!" Kiba called back sarcastically, pulling down the skin under his eye and sticking his tongue out at her. Sasuke pulled him around a corner and let go of his collar, flexing his hand a little before putting it in his pocket.

"Like I was saying, Kiba, I beat you fair and square at that stupid game last year because you wouldn't stop bugging me about your little challenge. I didn't use any tricks. Face it, it's because I'm better than you, at it." Sasuke said. Kiba snorted, glaring heatedly at Sasuke. Then, he remembered something, and grinned widely,

"Yeah, but Naru kicked you ass at it, if I remember." He said with a laugh.

Sasuke's eyes widened with surprise at the sudden comment, and he turned away to hide his embarrassed blush,

"Shut up, Kiba..." he said lowly.

"You're right. No tricks. She beat you _fair and square_!" Kiba said, and threw his head back to howl out a laugh, holding his stomach.

"Kiba!!" Sasuke turned back to him, glaring at him. Kiba pocketed his hands, not affected by the infamous Uchiha-glare,

"And hey, maybe today is your chance to reclaim your oh-so-precious Uchiha glory, if you were to come with us to play DDR." Kiba said coolly. Sasuke narrowed his eyes,

"Hn." He turned away quickly, and began walking towards the changing rooms so he could get changed out of his sports gear. Kiba walked after Sasuke quickly,

"So... Are you coming?" Kiba asked Sasuke, who ignored him completely. "HEY! Chicken-butt, did you hear me?!" Kiba asked. Sasuke stopped, and glared at Kiba, before smirking,

"Narumi's going down, this time." He muttered. Kiba laughed, and put his hands behind his head as Sasuke went inside the changing rooms,

"Good luck with that, dude. She's like the champion at this game!" he called after Sasuke, but got no answer. "_Mission accomplished. Who's the man? I'm the man!_" He cheered inwardly to himself with a toothy grin.

* * *

"Ugh, where the hell _are_ those guys? Kiba's taking forever to get Sasuke!!" Narumi said, leaning against the entrance to Tokyo's most popular arcade and looking to the pale blue skies with a frown set on her face.

Beside her, Shikamaru sat slouched back on a bench with his hands behind his head with his eyes closed. To his left sat Temari, now dressed in casual wear that consisted of a peach, low-collared shirt with long sleeves and a beige skirt, with a necklace around her neck and knee-high brown-leather boots.

And to her left, a boy Narumi's age sat with his arms folded and his eyes closed. With his eyes closed, it looked like the area around them, were just black patches; which seemed kind of threatening. His hair was a maroon red, and to match he wore a shirt of the same colour, along with dark-green trousers.

Standing nearby with his chunky headphones on, stood a boy with light brown hair and a big nose, wearing a black hooded jacket with some sort of explicit motif printed on the front, along with scruffy looking jeans that had holes in them.

These two boys were Temari's little brothers, Gaara and Kankurou, who attended her school as well. Gaara was relatively familiar to Narumi, but Kankurou in contrast (who never really socialised much,) was almost a stranger to her.

"Stop complaining, Narumi," Temari scolded her, not looking to her as she spoke. Shikamaru nodded,

"Yeah, you're annoying when you're like that. They'll be here any minute now, so calm down already." He agreed.

Narumi frowned at Shikamaru and Temari, "_A match made in heaven, indeed._" She thought to herself.

"Naru!!" came Kiba's voice and Narumi perked up.

"See? I told you, they'd be here any minute." Shikamaru commented.

"Oh, whatever!" she snapped at Shikamaru, irritated, "Kiba-kun! Sasuke! Nice to see you decided to show up," Narumi said with a big grin, putting her hands on her hips and watching as the two boys walked towards the group.

"Now that we're all here, who's up for a DDR competition!?" Kiba asked excitedly, clenching his fists. Narumi's hand shot to the air,

"I am!!" she chimed rather loudly. Sasuke sighed, putting his palm to his face,

"_So loud... It's like they're trying to embarrass me on purpose._" Sasuke thought, looking to the people who were in turn, staring at their group. Shikamaru was also thinking around about the same thing,

"Tone it down a little, would you? Troublesome," Shikamaru said, cleaning out his ear a little with a frown, "Anyway, count us out." He said and Kiba and Narumi turned around to face them.

"What!? So why did you even come with us, if you weren't going to join in??" Narumi asked. Shikamaru raised his eyebrow,

"Do I really strike you as the DDR kind of person?" he asked her calmly and Narumi sweat-dropped.

"Err..." she trailed off.

"Besides, I've got an _interview_ to attend right now." Shikamaru said, sounding sarcastic and rolling his eyes. Narumi, Sasuke and Kiba raised their eyebrows at him questioningly.

"Don't phrase it like that, Shikamaru-kun..!" Temari sighed irritably, "Look, it isn't my fault if my little brothers want to watch over us on our date." She said, putting her hands on her hips. Narumi gasped,

"A date..?!" she asked excitedly. Shikamaru sighed miserably, hanging over his torso, as Gaara and Kankurou got up and joined them.

"That's right. Their first date... And their last one, if he doesn't pass the test!" Kankurou said with a smirk. Gaara merely nodded his head without a word, in agreement.

-

_Temari-senpai's little brothers, Gaara and Kankurou. I don't really know Kankurou very well, but as for Gaara? He's cool; a bit on the weird and quiet side, but still pretty cool. A lot of people tend to avoid him, from what I heard; it's probably because of those rings around his eyes (which none of us know the reason for... does he have insomnia problems?) and his un-talkative-ness. _

_But despite all that, he's a nice guy and he cares about what happens to his brother and sister... And he's really understanding, too; A good listener._

_As for Kankurou, all I know is that Shika's in for a real challenge, winning _this_ guy's approval over. He's as stubborn as a mule, and Shika doesn't have much motivation as it is!_

_Heheh. Good luck, Shika. You're gonna need it!_

-

Temari sighed at her brothers' words, and waved Kiba, Narumi and Sasuke off, "So you guys go on in without us, and have fun.. See you some other time, maybe." She said to them.

Sasuke ignored her, and looked away, while Kiba shrugged and nodded, and Narumi mock-saluted. She grinned, ­

"Shika, call me later to let me know if you're still alive!" she said with a teasing tone. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and nodded. Narumi grabbed her fellow DDR-competitors arms and tugged them inside the arcade, "See you later, guys!" she called to Shikamaru and the Sabaku siblings before disappearing inside.

Shikamaru waved weakly, then felt Kankurou's rough hand on his shoulder and looked to him.

"Let's find somewhere to eat first!" he said with a smile that looked quite angry, instead of the expected happiness or excitement that a smile usually meant.

"_What a drag... It's like 'Meet the parents'_." Shikamaru thought, gulping, "Sure..." he said nevertheless.

* * *

Around ten minutes later, Shikamaru, Temari, Kankurou and Gaara were standing together near a cafe. Kankurou stepped a bit ahead of them, folded his arms, and looked around a bit, before spotting a menu and grinning. He turned to Shikamaru,

"Oi, Nara! I'm thirsty!" he said and Shikamaru looked to him with surprise.

"So, buy something to drink, then." Shikamaru shrugged. Kankurou smirked,

"Would you ask Temari-nee to pay for her own drink, if she was thirsty, too? How not-gentleman-like! Minus 5 points," he said. Shikamaru stared at him a moment,

"You've gotta be kidding me..." he sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose, "Of course. Temari wouldn't want me to pay for her drink. She's independent, has her own part-time job and she likes to use the money she gets from that. Why should I force her to do otherwise?" he asked Kankurou. Temari grinned at Shikamaru, and folded her arms,

"He's right, Kankurou." She told her brother. Kankurou snorted indignantly,

"Whatever! Since I came down here out of the goodness of my heart just to watch over you guys, the least you could do is pay me back. Get me some Aiza cola!" he said, pointing to the menu. Shikamaru looked at the price on the menu, and groaned,

"Eh? But that's the most expensive kind that you can get. What a drag," he looked to Temari for support. Temari put her hands together and asked him to try to put up with him. Shikamaru just sighed and began bringing out his wallet.

Kankurou turned to his little brother,

"Gaara! You're thirsty too, aren't y-" he paused when he spotted Gaara staring point-blank at him with zero emotion showing (like usual). Kankurou sweat-dropped, "G—Gaara... You're doing that staring thing again. It's freaking me out...!" he said and Gaara finally blinked.

"Oh..." he turned to Shikamaru, "I'll just have a glass of mineral water, please." He nodded his head briefly, asking for the cheapest drink on the menu. Kankurou sighed, ­

"_Looks like Gaara's not on my side, then. Why did I expect him to help, anyway?_" he wondered to himself.

* * *

The song 'Love, Love Shine' came to a close, and Narumi leaned back against the support railing, letting out a breath of relief. Over on the opponent's stage, Sasuke leaned on the support railing in front of him, panting lightly and scowling. Behind them, Kiba began laughing,

"Ah, it's too bad, eh Sasuke? Losing to a girl again, that is! Hahahah!" Kiba held his stomach as he laughed. Sasuke looked over his shoulder to glare heatedly at him.

Narumi laughed, "Aw, don't let it get to ya, Sasuke. I _am_ Tokyo's DDR champ' after all!" Narumi said, bragging. Sasuke turned his glare to her, and shook it off after a moment,

"Hn, whatever. I'm going to get a drink." Sasuke said, walking away from them with his hands in his pockets.

"Running away...?" Kiba asked, grinning impishly. Sasuke paused in his departure to twitch involuntarily, and then continued walking without a word, a scowl now on his face.

Narumi laughed, and looked to Kiba,

"You're really mean to Sasuke, you know that?" she asked him. Kiba raised his eyebrows at her, then shrugged,

"Eh! It's a guy thing, Naru'." He replied. Narumi shrugged,

"So, do you wanna go against me? You've been watching me kick Sasuke's ass for twenty minutes now." Narumi offered. Kiba gulped, and raised his hands,

"Err, no thanks." Kiba said, "_I am_ not_ getting myself embarrassed, losing to you, Naru'. No way in hell._" He thought.

* * *

"So, how was your first day?"

Kakashi looked up from putting his keys in his small green car to see someone familiar standing nearby, leaning onto a black and silver motorbike. Her dark-raven hair hung over her sharp hazel eyes, her lips quirked into a familial smirk. She was dressed in a black mini-skirt and corset-like shirt with a beige jacket over it, a necklace with a shark-tooth hanging from it around her neck.

"Oh, hello Anko-san." Kakashi nodded.

Anko pushed herself off of her motorbike and strolled over to his side as he opened the door to his car, "What a great greeting... So, your day. How was it?" she asked again, leaning her arm on his car. ­

"Hmm. It's peaceful enough so far. Nothing out of the ordinary. It's just like any other highschool." Kakashi said.

"And have you met her yet?" asked Anko interestedly.

"Ah, yes. Just as planned, I'm her home-room sensei. She has a few friends so she's doing well," Kakashi agreed. Anko nodded a few times, then sighed heavily,

"It's so boring without you around! You should've never took this job; you were better at the job you used to have." Anko poked Kakashi's arm roughly, frowning at him.

"Hm. Is that so?" Kakashi blinked, "I'm doing fine where I am right now. We always have the evening to hang out, if that's what you were after." He said.

Anko smirked,

"Then, let's hang out right now!" Anko said. Kakashi blinked,

"Huh? Where?" he asked. Anko laughed,

"Ha! Where! At 'Dingo Dango', of course!" she said, thrusting a thumb in another direction. Kakashi ran his hand through his hair,

"Ah, of course. I should have known that." He nodded.

"Let's go, then!" Anko said.

"Right." Nodded Kakashi.

* * *

Pretty soon, everyone was done with what they'd come downtown for; Shikamaru and the Sabaku siblings had returned from the 'interview', and Narumi had challenged just about any willing competitor she could find at the arcade and won them all. Thanks to her little DDR-craze, though, her legs were now pretty much useless.

She rode on the back of her unwilling steed, Sasuke, grinning and waving at Shikamaru.

"I guess you don't need to call me about it anymore. How'd your _big date_ go?" Narumi asked Shikamaru, who grumbled. He held up his now empty wallet with a sour look,

"How do _you_ think it went? I was saving up money for a new IPod. What a drag..." he said, shaking the empty wallet to demonstrate the lack of money. Temari chuckled, and roughly patted her boyfriend's shoulder,

"Sorry about that, Shikamaru-kun. Thanks for putting up with it," she said with a smirk.

"Your brother has expensive taste in food and entertainment." Shikamaru commented with a frown, glancing at the two younger siblings of Temari, "Kankurou I mean." He added, flinching under the questioning gaze of her red-headed brother. ­

"Giving up, already? You quitter. If you want to date my sister, you have to have the resolve." Kankurou folded his arms.

"_He's like the classic case of stubborn and protective relative..._" Shikamaru thought tiredly, "I never said I was giving up. I gave too much effort to tell Temari that I like her." He said to Kankurou and Temari blushed discreetly.

Kankurou frowned, "We're going home, Temari. Gaara, you coming?" he asked, turning on his way. Gaara followed mutely, shaking his head disapprovingly at his brother. Temari nodded,

"I'll be there in a second," she said, and turned to Shikamaru, grinning, "Thanks for today. Maybe next time we can be by ourselves, and go to that hill of yours to watch some clouds." She suggested to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru's lips quirked to a smile, "I'd like that." He nodded to Temari, "Talk to you soon," he waved lightly to her. Temari nodded, and thought for a second. She then smirked, and went closer to him. "What are you-? Oh..." Shikamaru trailed off, surprised as Temari withdrew from pecking him lightly on the cheek.

Temari then jogged away to catch up with her brothers, leaving Shikamaru to feel his cheek with a surprised expression.

After a moment's silence, Narumi couldn't take it anymore, and spoke up,

"Oooo! Way to go, Shika! You old dog, you!" Narumi cheered, flailing in Sasuke's grip as he tried to keep a hold of her.

"Oi! Stop that, or I'm putting you down!" Sasuke gasped at her, gritting his teeth frustratedly.

Shikamaru turned to them with his hands now in his pockets, "Why are you carrying her, anyway?" he asked them.

Kiba laughed, "The loser had to carry the winner home." He explained. Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, surprised that oh-so-perfect Uchiha Sasuke had lost at something. He'd mention it to the fan girls but their reactions would be too annoying.

"I see. Well, I've got to go if I want to catch the last bus to my place. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Shikamaru said, waving lightly before pocketing his hands and walking past the three friends.

"See you tomorrow, Shika!" Narumi waved and Sasuke struggled to keep a hold of her again.

"Let's go home!" Kiba announced, and Sasuke and Narumi nodded. The three began on their way home together.

* * *

_**...to be continued!**_

* * *

**NOTE-**

**1.** Japanese Tennis Clubs: I read about it a little, and apparently, freshmen ('_kohai_') can't participate in actual games. They mostly look after the balls and rackets, watch their senpai play, and maybe have games with each other if their upper-classmen aren't around. People who watch _Prince of Tennis_ will know better than me, of course.

**2. **"Love, Love Shine" by Riyu Kosaka. It's the only DDR-like song I could think of. Maybe we'll have more DDR fun later; if you guys can help me out with finding DDR songs, that is.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.


	4. A Part Time Job!

**Kin:** Feel free to hurl things at me/yell at me for not updating this sooner. God knows I deserve it. T.T Reason for my lack of updates is I didn't plan the order of my events after chapter 3 very well so I had to take some time to figure it out. That, and I've been in more of an arty mood lately. If you want to see what I've been doing with my time instead of updating, check out my DA page via the link in my Profile/Bio page. Untill the next time I manage to update, enjoy this chapter!

___**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do own the plot.**_

* * *

**Chapter 4 – A Part-Time Job!?**

_Phweeeeet!_

"Come on, guys!! You call that 'running laps? I could do a hundred times better and I'm twice your age! Show me what you can really do!" Maito Gai called to his gym-class students, whom he was currently making run laps... for an hour and a half.

"Can't we.. stop.. already?" wheezed Chouji, struggling to keep up with Shikamaru, who was running exceptionally slow anyway, both to stay close to Chouji and because he couldn't be bothered to sprint like their senpai was.

"Nonsense! We've got a while before the lesson's over!" Gai answered with a grin, "Stay strong, and charge into the distance!" he added loudly, pointing to a random cloud.

Just then, Rock Lee and Sasuke zoomed past as if they were locked to each other's sides, each one trying to overtake the other.

Gai redirected his pointer finger to Lee's and Sasuke's persons, "Like Lee-kun and Sasuke-kun! Follow their examples, everyone!" he said, proceeding to pump his fist into the air, "Keep it up, Lee-kun!! You can do it!" he cheered on his mini-double.

Lee looked over his shoulder to salute and grin toothily as he continued to race the Uchiha, then turned to look at him; "Sasuke-kun, you're doing well! But soon I shall take the lead!" he said.

Sasuke just ignored him like he usually did, and picked up his pace a little. Lee gasped, and picked his pace up some more.

Kiba, who was just behind them, sighed out, "_Bushy-brows just doesn't know when to give up._" He thought, and winced as he heard a squeal from the girls' court where they were doing gymnastics. "_And neither do the fan-girls...! What do they see in that ice-block, anyway?_" He added to himself.

In the direction of the squeal, Ino stood at the railings with her fingers looped through the wires, watching on excitedly as Sasuke and Lee raced one another.

"Go for it! You can do it Sasuke-kun!!" she shouted over to her beloved.

Behind her Sakura noticed what she was doing and went over to reprimand her, "Ino-chan! Quit slacking off and step up to the vault! You still haven't gone yet and Sensei is waiting." Sakura said to her friend.

Ino sighed out, then with a smug grin she turned to Sakura, flipping her long blond hair over her shoulder, "Have some patience, Sakura-chan! I was getting to that. I just had to wish Sasuke-kun good luck." She said.

"Good luck in what? It's not like he needs it. It's only Lee-san." Sakura said, grabbing the railing to look down over the boys.

"Well _obviously_! But showing my support is going to take me one step closer to winning his heart! See this is why he never pays any attention to you, Sakura-chan, you have to make him notice you by being enthusiastic about everything he does." Ino explained.

"What was that? Are you saying that I don't care about what Sasuke does? Maybe all this attention is what's driving him away in the first place." Sakura said.

"What!" Ino exclaimed, feeling sceptical.

"I think that Sasuke needs a girl who doesn't try to dominate him or suffocate him with attention. Someone smart, who he can count on to be there for him when he needs them. Someone who isn't obnoxious or annoying, like you Ino-chan." Sakura said, smirking at her last sentence.

Ino gasped angrily, "What was that? You're just as bad as me with showering him with attention so don't you dare play that card with me!" Ino said, glaring at Sakura.

"I'm not as bad as you. And I only speak the truth. The only thing I'm confused about is..." she paused upon hearing another girl's voice nearby.

"Haha, what's wrong Sasuke? Is that the best you can do? You can't even overtake fuzzy-brows!" Narumi said, also slacking off from the girls' gymnastic lesson.

"Narumi!! Get over here and jump the vault already! Sakura and Ino, you two as well." Said the girls' gym teacher, Genma.

"Okay, okay, don't get your panties in a twist!" Narumi said exasperatedly, and went over to jump the vault as ordered. She leapt over it with ease, tapping the vault as she went. Upon landing she turned and did a 'v for victory' sign to her classmates, "Haha, how was that?! No need to tell me, I already know that I rock!" she said obnoxiously.

"Yeah, yeah, move along.." Genma sighed, motioning her away from the landing matt.

"...How in the hell is she friends with Sasuke-kun?" Sakura finished with a scowl.

Ino propped her hands on her hips and nodded in agreement, "Gotta agree with you there, Sakura. But it just goes to show how patient my Sasuke-kun is, putting up with a brat like that." She said.

"Excuse me? _Your_ Sasuke-kun? For heaven's sake, Ino-pig!" Sakura glared at her friend. Before Ino could retort, Genma called Ino up to jump the vault.

Soon, gym class was finally over and the girls were filing out of their changing rooms, chattering amongst each other. Last to come out, Narumi fiddled with her neck-tie absently, not noticing a certain male student approaching her.

"Narumi-san!" his voice caused Narumi to choke on her spittle and look up quickly. There stood Lee, looking excited and wearing some sort of wrist-bands around his... wrists.

"Um... Uh, hey fuzzy-brows.. What's the problem?" Narumi asked nervously, edging away from the boy with a bowl-cut slowly.

"I'd appreciate it if you used my name, Narumi-san," Lee said good-naturedly, and held up one of his arms to show her the wrist-band, "I wanted to show you these! They're weighted training-pads designed specifically to enhance your muscle strength and stamina. Gai-sensei got a set of them for the three of us the other day. Did you get yours yet?" he asked her.

"Huh? Weighted training pads?" Narumi blinked.

"Yes! Did... Gai-sensei not give you them yet?" he asked, and Narumi shook her head; "Well never fear! I'm sure he'll give you them when you get home today. He wouldn't let such an investment go to waste!" Lee gave her a thumbs-up, grinning toothily.

And with that he took off down the halls saying something about going to ask Sakura if he could accompany her to her bus.

Narumi sweat-dropped, frowning as Lee disappeared around a corner.

"Damnit, why can't Gai-chichi just ask me before he buys all this ridiculous training junk?" Narumi asked herself, and began on her way down the halls.

* * *

"Ara... Narumi-chan!" the land-lady of the complex Narumi lived in with Gai called out to the boisterous blond as she arrived outside the building. Narumi paused on her ways to the stairs and looked over to the little old lady as she trotted over. "I'm glad I caught you. This came in the mail for you and your father." She said, handing an envelope to Narumi.

"_He's not my _real_ father._" Narumi mentally grumbled, taking the envelope and looking at the insignia marked on it, "Macho-Muscle Expander...?" she thought curiously. Using her thumb to tear open the seal, she took out the slip and read through its' contents.

"Well, I'll leave it to you dear. See you later." The land-lady said with a smile and turned away to go back to her own house.

After having read the entirety of the letter, which was in fact the bill for the weights Lee had mentioned not longer before, Narumi's eyes widened and she left out a growl.

"Damnit, Gai-chichi!!" she snapped, and raced up the stairs to get to her apartment.

* * *

Inside their apartment, Gai was doing squats in front of the television along with the instructor on the screen, when the door slammed open and Narumi stalked in with the bill clenched in her hands.

Gai looked over his shoulder and grinned, "You're just in time, Narumi! I trust Lee informed you of the weights so slap them on and join me in some youthful training exercises-" he was cut off when 

Narumi pushed the bill into his face. "Hum?" he asked, peeling it off his face and looking at it curiously.

"What the hell have I told you about checking the price-tag before buying this crap?! We can't afford this bill!" Narumi said, folding her arms and glaring at the weights around her foster-father's wrists.

"Hrm... Check it?" he asked, and Narumi agreed; he grinned, "Don't worry, Narumi! I anticipated this, and have organised a scheme with Lee-kun to earn enough money for the bill. We'll be able to gain this sum in one day, I guarantee it!" Gai said confidently.

Narumi's shoulders loosened and her expression became a little calmer, "A scheme?" she repeated curiously, "_Maybe Gai-chichi isn't so bad after all._" She thought to herself with relief.

"Yes! I've seen it be successful in movies before, so I figured it'd work just as well with Lee-kun and I. After all, we are charming and handsome lads." Gai said, stroking his chin smugly.

"_Somehow I don't like the sound of that..._" Narumi thought, face-faulting.

"My scheme for collecting the money is... Car Washing!!" Gai said dramatically.

Narumi blinked, "Well that doesn't sound so bad-" she muttered, only to be cut off by Gai.

"Only, we will do it in our swimming trunks!" Gai said and Narumi grimaced, then sighed irritably. Gai continued, "Because the ladies will be attracted to our finely chiselled and youthful bodies, they will gladly play a gratuitous sum of money to have their cars washed by- Narumi? Where are you going? Narumi!" Gai watched as Narumi stomped towards their front door.

Narumi looked over her shoulder, "I'm gonna look for a part-time job, obviously!! I'll be back later so don't do anything stupid!" she told Gai, slamming the door shut after her.

* * *

"_Of all the people, I had to get adopted by _Maito Gai_!!_" Narumi thought aggrivatedly as she walked down the streets. As she passed the Arcade she slowed her pace a little, "_But it's not like complaining about him will make him any different. I guess I'm just stuck with him... What I need to think about now is how to find a job where I can get money, fast!_" Narumi put a hand to her chin and hummed, a serious expression on her face.

She looked over her shoulder to the Arcade, "I'd probably get distracted if I worked there. Not to mention the pay is probably small." She muttered out-loud, and glanced over to the other side of the road, where there was a book store. That wouldn't provide the money she needed either.

Narumi sighed heavily, "_This is gonna take a while..._" she thought with a frown.

"Hey, need some fast money?" a voice came suddenly behind Narumi and she yelped, jumping away and clinging to the street lamp's pole for support. She looked over her shoulder to see a boy with white hair grinning toothily at her.

Narumi raised her eyebrows at him, "Who're you? Are you cosplaying?" she asked, noting his unnatural hair-colour.

The boy, who was a year or so older than her, pouted, "This is my natural hair colour. Don't knock it. And the name is Suigetsu. You are?" he asked her.

"Why do you wanna know?" Narumi asked this Suigetsu person curiously.

Suigetsu snorted, "'cause I need to know the name of possible employee number 1, aka, you. I work at this new cafe that opened up just down the road and we need staff. Since we need staff, the boss is willing to pay big bucks. You up for the job, twerp?" he asked her.

"I'm not a twerp!" Narumi retorted, and put her hands on her hips, "I'm Uzumaki Narumi!" she told Suigetsu, choosing to forget her second surname for the moment being.

Suigetsu grinned, his oddly sharp teeth protruding slightly, "Right, Naru-twerp! Come with me!" he said, grabbing her arm and dragging her off in the direction of this cafe of his.

"Let me go, I can walk on my own! ...And don't call me Naru-twerp!!" Narumi complained. Suigetsu only looked over his shoulder and smirked at her.

* * *

"Well, this is the place!" Suigetsu announced somewhat proudly, then looked over at Narumi who was staring at the menu board outside the cafe, "Huh? What's up Naru-twerp?" he asked her, wandering over with his hands pocketed. He leaned over her shoulder slightly to look at what she was looking at.

"The special... This place's special is...!" Narumi mumbled.

Suigetsu nodded, "Yup! Our chef can cook a lot of things, but his favourite to make is Ramen. Why? You like Ramen? ...You know, as an employee you might get free samples of the stuff as rewards." He said slowly.

Narumi looked very, very excited, "Oh hell yes!! Sign me up!" she said enthusiastically.

Suigetsu chuckled, "_Bingo!_" he thought to himself, and proceeded to drag the more enthusiastic employee-to-be into the cafe. "Boss! We've got a new recruit! She can be a cute waitress!" he called out back.

"_Cute waitress...?_" Narumi frowned, hoping there were no weird, perverted attachments to that label.

"What was that, Suigetsu? Cute waitresses? I hope you aren't getting perverted thoughts again..." said a deep, gritty voice and out from the cafe's kitchen area (presumably,) came a tall, sharp-eyed man with pale, grey-ish complexion. His blouse was unbuttoned for the most part revealing his chiselled stomach, and his lower mouth was covered with plain bandages.

Narumi blanched at the 'perverted thoughts' comment of this man, "_Think about the Ramen. Think about the Ramen._" She thought determinedly.

"None at all!" Suigetsu sloppily saluted, "So this is Uzumaki Narumi. She wants a job with quick pay. Think we have a slot open for her?" he asked.

"I think the answer to that is quite obvious. At the moment there's only me, you, and my son working here." The man said, then turned to Narumi, "I am Momochi Zabuza, head chef and manager of this place. If you choose to work here, I'll be your boss. Do as I say and you won't get fired. Got it?" he asked her.

Narumi nodded, "Got it, Momochi-san! Uhm, and Suigetsu said something about free ramen...?" she added adventurously.

Zabuza instantly glanced at Suigetsu, who whistled innocently. He looked back to Narumi, "We'll see how you work on your first day, and then decide if you get the job let alone any freebies. Are you okay to start today?" he asked her with a gravely calm voice.

"Y-Yessir...!" Narumi nodded quickly, gulping a little.

"Alright. Grab a uniform that fits you from the storage cupboard and once people start showing up, you can start taking orders." And with that, Zabuza went back into the kitchen.

Once he was gone Narumi felt as though a breath she had been holding had been relieved. Next to her, Suigetsu smirked.

"He's a pretty intimidating guy, huh? You'll get used to it... if you last that long!" he said. Narumi just looked at him dryly.

"He said he had a son...?" Narumi mentioned cautiously.

"Oh yeah, that'd be Haku. Right girly-girl, he is. You wouldn't think he was male at all." Suigetsu snorted. Narumi curiously raised an eyebrow. "Anyways, let's get you that uniform. It'll look super cute on you!" he said, pushing Narumi towards the storage cupboards which were out back.

* * *

Two days later, as the last bell of the day was about to toll, Narumi sat straight in her chair in History Class with Kurenai-sensei, watching the clock like a hawk.

_Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Click. Brrrriiiiiiiiiing!_

Kurenai glanced at the clock as her students let out a relieved sigh, and then looked back at them, "Wow, that lesson went fast.." she said, and some students dared to roll their eyes, "Okay, class is over. Don't forget to have those essays done for next Friday!" Kurenai told her students.

"Yes, sensei..." they chorused dully.

And with that, everyone quickly got up and packed their things away.

Sasuke quickly strode out of the classroom with his book-bag, leaving his friends behind in hopes to lose his fan-girls, Ino and Sakura (and a few others) who followed after him to ask if he'd walk them home or carry their books.

Kiba watched Sasuke attempt his escape, then shrugged and leaned on Narumi's table, watching as she stuffed her papers into her bag.

"So, Naru', what say we walk home together? Sorry I couldn't yesterday, since my mom wanted my help at the clinic." He said, and blinked as she quickly stood up and looked down to him.

"Sorry Kiba-kun! I've got somewhere I gotta go." She told him hurriedly, and began on her way out of the room. Kiba grabbed his stuff and followed her, putting his things into his bag as he trailed her.

"Hey, I'll go with you!" he said to her.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I gotta do this on my own!" Narumi said nervously, "_If Kiba-kun found out I was working as a waitress he'd show up every other day just to see me in a dress. No way am I telling him!_" she thought.

With that, she took off without Kiba, leaving him looking bewildered.

"Okay... What the heck was that? Something's up with her these past couple of days..." he muttered, and brightened up when Hinata arrived in the classroom, "Oi, Hinata! Want me to walk _you_ home?" he asked her.

Hinata smiled shyly, and slowly shook her head, "Actually... Um, Shino-kun was going to accompany me home. I-I'm sorry, Kiba-kun." She said, and in Kiba's eyes Shino somehow magically appeared beside her.

Kiba flopped, "Okay." He sighed. Hinata expressed her apologies once more and bid the Inuzuka fare-well for the day, leaving with Shino. Soon after, someone entered the classroom again.

"Are they gone?" it was Sasuke, inquiring of the whereabouts of his fan club.

Kiba looked out the window to see Sakura and Ino leaving the school-grounds, "Well, the worst of it is gone." He reasoned.

"...Why are you still here anyway? Don't you walk home with Narumi?" Sasuke asked after a pause. Kiba immediately picked up at this,

"Naru already left, and in a hurry too. She's been acting weird lately. All secretive and stuff." He replied.

"Secrets? Narumi can't keep secrets to save her life." Sasuke snorted and Kiba scowled at him.

"I'll be you're wrong there. She's keeping secrets from us after all." He said and Sasuke shook his head, "I'm serious! For the past two days she's been going off on her own after school and she wouldn't tell me why. You know what I think?" he asked.

"I don't care what you think, you're probably just overreacting anyway." Sasuke looked away, and turned to leave the classroom.

"I think Naru's seeing a _guy_!" Kiba said serious, a grim frown on his face. Sasuke paused on his exit. "And a guy we don't know at that. Why else would she keep it a secret?" Kiba said.

"You're an idiot, Kiba." Sasuke sighed, and left the classroom.

Kiba followed him, "Don't you want to find out if I'm overreacting or not?" he asked Sasuke. Sasuke looked at Kiba sceptically, and with a sigh he gave in, knowing Kiba wouldn't drop his paranoia.

* * *

Meanwhile, Narumi had just arrived at Zabuza's cafe in time to meet up with one of his co-workers who had just arrived as well.

"Hey Haku-kun! What's up?" Narumi greeted Haku cheerily. Looking up from setting a table, the effeminate son of the head-chef brushed his bangs behind his ears and smiled kindly.

"Good afternoon, Narumi-san. How was school?" he asked with a polite nod.

"Boring, like always." Narumi shrugged.

"Oh, that's too bad... Well, your uniform is out back. Let's do well today." Haku said with a smile.

Narumi nodded her head with a grin, and hesitantly went to get changed. She didn't particularily like her waitress uniform. It was frilly and girly. But Haku had said it looked good on her so she put up with it. With Haku around, Narumi felt she could put up with Suigetsu. He was a nice guy, very polite and considerate. Narumi wondered how the son of her rough boss could be so gentle.

Regardless of some things, Narumi felt as though she was going to enjoy her time working at Zabuza's cafe.

* * *

**_...to be continued!_**

* * *

**Kin:** Again, I'm so sorry for taking so long with this chapter. And about Suigetsu; I don't know much about his character since he didn't really do all that much but I love his character so I added him and pretty much winged it...! I hope I did good.

Thanks for reading! Untill next time! (Which will hopefully be sooner.)


	5. The Newspaper Club!

**Kin:** Sorry again for the _late_ update! I'm really bad at this... I hope this chapter makes up for that and that you all enjoy it. Also, Sai is introduced a bit in this chapter. I hope I portrayed him right! If his portrayal needs any work, do let me know how to improve him! And cookies to anyone who can guess who's on the poster in the first few lines of the chapter!!

_**

* * *

**__**Disclaimer: Naruto, I own not!**_

* * *

**Chapter 5 – The Newspaper Club!**

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke, still clad in his school uniform stared blankly at the poster outside of a music store as he waited for Kiba to come out. In the poster -which was themed with the colour gold- a man with short hair and a strong tan posed confidently, both hands jutting forwards in a 'rock-out!' position, and with dark sun-shades obscuring his eyes.

Sasuke had never been interested in music, and overly-confident people like these were most likely the reason why he wasn't.

_Schwoop..._

The automatic doors to the music store opened and out stepped Inuzuka Kiba, tucking a plastic bag containing the CD he'd bought inside his rucksack.

"Are you quite done? I hope that you haven't forgotten why you've dragged me along with you, dog-boy." Sasuke gave a side-long glance to him.

"Hunh? Of course I didn't! I just wanted to make sure I got this, before I forgot about it." Kiba answered.

"Right..." Sasuke looked away, "So where do you suppose we should look for her?" he asked, not really interested either way.

But hey, it wasn't like he had anything better to do... like _studying_ for example.

"Hmmm..." Kiba seemed to be contemplating his plan of action quite thoroughly, and then his stomach grumbled hungrily. "Hey! Naru's probably hungry right now, so let's check out the restaurants and cafes!" Kiba said with a grin, grabbing Sasuke's arm and tugging him along.

'_It's more like you're the one who's hungry..._' Sasuke thought, rolling his eyes at Kiba's back.

* * *

Meanwhile at Zabuza's cafe, Narumi was dealing with a rather annoying group of customers. Twitching, and trying to twist her grimace into a grin, Narumi gripped her ballpoint pen and spoke.

"So, you wanted a..." she trailed off.

"A cafe latte, without the calories and a mixed salad, hold the celery." the first girl- who was probably a year older than Narumi- said. She wore black-rimmed glasses, and had long red hair which she confidently flicked back over her shoulders.

"And I want a non-fat peach flavoured smoothie, along with a small fruit salad. Make sure there's no lumps whatsoever in the smoothie, or I'm not paying." the second girl said, folding her arms and looking right up at Narumi with a smirk. She had long dark hair that trailed down past her hips, tied into a single ponytail and had coal black eyes.

"I'm just having a piece of the chocolate cake. It had better be the best goddamn cake I ever had, though!" said the final girl, who's messy mauve-coloured hair hung over her confident brown eyes.

"H-Huh... Okay, I'll send the order to the kitchen." Narumi managed to say, and turned away from the three girls to go to the kitchen.

Haku waited by the door to the kitchen, watching as she stalked towards the door.

He smiled nervously, watching as Narumi punched the frame of the door lightly, trying to control her temper.

"Ah... Narumi-san?" he asked her hesitantly.

"Those girls piss me off..!" Narumi hissed.

"Good job, not hurting them so far." Haku said with a nod, "I know you wanted to." He added.

"Hell _yeah_ I wanted to! Humph." Narumi folded her arms indignantly, and then handed him the order, "Ah, here's their order, Haku-kun." She said to him.

"Thank you. I'll send the order through straight away. Hang in there, Narumi-san," he said with a nod to her, making his way into the back kitchen.

"Yeah, I will! ...Uhh, for now I'll... welcome customers, I guess... Where the hell is Suigetsu anyway?! He's getting a piece of my mind for being late and leaving me to deal with these guys alone, I swear.." Narumi grumbled, and made her way to the entrance of the shop.

"Oi! Where's my salad!?"

"And my smoothie!"

"I'm _waiting_ for my_ chocolate cake_!"

Narumi twitched, and forced a smile, "They're coming, ladies! Please be patient!" she put on a sickly sweet smile in an attempt to hide her irritation.

-

_Am I ever going to get used to working here, if _these guys_ keep showing up?! I'm surprised that the wall's been the only thing I've punched so far! I guess one of the reasons I've lasted this long is 'cause of Haku-kun. I dunno, he seems so calm and gentle that it's kinda soothing. They're _really_ lucky that they've got Haku-kun here - to protect them!_

-

Narumi perked up at hearing voices outside the restaurant.

"I'm telling you, I heard this place make the most awesome burgers. I saw it on a flyer!"

"Whatever... As long as that's not _all _they make"

"What, are you vegetarian or something?"

"I never said that."

"Huh, well either way, I'm sure they've got all kinds of stuff to eat," Narumi finally recognised the voice, as the bell rang to the door being opened and in stepped Kiba and Sasuke.

"Huh?! What're you guys doing here!?" Narumi pointed at them, genuinely surprised.

"WAGH! NARU!!?" Kiba gasped back, even more surprised to see the dress she was wearing. He quickly covered his lower-face and shut up as Sasuke looked her up and down.

"Huh, so what do you know? We actually did find her. And here I thought you were just dragging me out to eat," Sasuke said. '_Actually, this was probably just a lucky break..._' he added mentally.

"Where you guys following me?!" Narumi asked the boys.

"Correction – Kiba was the one who wanted to follow you. I couldn't really care less what you do in your free-time, though it does surprise me that you'd actually say yes to wearing a uniform like that." Sasuke replied.

"That dress is...!" Kiba managed to utter.

"Yeah, well don't get used to it! I'm only wearing this 'cause I'm getting paid," Narumi snorted, folding her arms and looking away.

"What's all the commotion out here?" asked Haku, coming out of the kitchen with a few of the three girls' orders.

"Yeah, you're giving us head-aches, waitress!" said the girl with red hair, turning around in her seat to glare at Narumi, only to gasp at the sight of Sasuke, '_Oh my god, he's hot!!_' she thought to herself, and with a wicked smirk, she got up and wandered over to him. "Hey, there. What's a hottie like you doing talking to a girl like that?"

Sasuke ignored her and watched as something wet and red dribbled down through Kiba's hand that covered his lower-face; "Clean yourself up, dog-breath." He tsked at the brunet, who yelped with surprise.

"Oh! R-Right. Uhh.. Toilet, toilet... is there one here?" Kiba asked, glancing around.

Haku stepped up with a refreshing smile on his face, "Welcome to Kiri Cafe, sir. Please, allow me to guide you to the gents' toilets." He said, gesturing his hand to the side.

Kiba nodded and followed Haku away, "Thanks miss," he muttered through his hands. Haku just smiled and shook his head.

Wasn't it obvious while he was wearing the cafe's male-workers' uniform? He supposed Kiba wasn't paying attention to that.

"Ugh... Seriously, why did you guys follow me here?" Narumi asked with a frown, and looked to Sasuke, "If you didn't wanna come then you didn't have to, you know..." she added.

"You obviously don't know how stubborn dog-breath is." Sasuke pointed out to Narumi, and let out a light sigh, "And you shouldn't have kept it from us that had a part-time job. Thought you trusted us more than that," Sasuke said to her.

"Don't try to make me feel guilty! I had my reasons."

"And they were?"

"My spend-thrift step-dad, that's what. He got us into debt again, and I was _not_ going to take part in what he had planned to get the money." Narumi grimaced.

"What did Gai-sensei have planned?" Sasuke raised a brow.

"Something stupid," Narumi replied rather bluntly.

"Hn."

"Um... Hello? I'm standing right here." The red-head said, putting her hands on her hips impatiently.

Sasuke glanced at her, and Narumi frowned, "What d'you want?" she asked her. The girl threw her a look that said 'please leave us alone'.

"What do _you_ want? Can't you see I'm trying to talk to this... Sasuke-kun, was it?" the girl looked endearingly at Sasuke who rolled his eyes and looked anywhere but at her. She didn't let this put her down, "My name's Karin! Want to ditch this place and find somewhere _better_ to eat? The orders _take too long_ here," Karin said to Sasuke, grabbing his arm.

He looked back at her and calmly asked, "Will you let go of my arm?" looking rather annoyed, '_Another damn fan-girl..._' he thought to himself.

"Yeah, back off! Sasuke hates it when girls get all clingy and pushy," Narumi nodded, folding her arms, "While you're at it, grab your friends and high-tale it out of here if you dislike our service so much!" she added.

Karin looked at Narumi, up and down; "What? Are you jealous that I can do this?" she pointed to her arm that held Sasuke's with a smirk, "You act all tough but you don't have the gall to own up to your feelings, huh? I know this guy's type – they don't go for people who sit back and wait rather than act on their feelings." She said smugly, cuddling closer to him.

"What are you trying to say?!" Narumi snapped, looking like a volcano about to erupt. She clenched her fists, and tried to cool herself off.

For the first time ever, Sasuke actually wished she'd lose her temper like a kid and hit this Karin woman.

Karin's two friends finally decided to come over to where they stood.

"Ain't it obvious? Karin's saying that you don't have a chance with a guy like that so you might as well give up on him." Said the black-haired girl.

"Huh?! I don't like Sasuke!!" Narumi shot back. At this, Sasuke shook his head with a sigh. She was letting people get to her again.

"Whatever." Snorted the black-haired girl.

"Shall we go, Sasuke-kun?" Karin asked Sasuke.

"No.. I'm not going anywhere with you." Sasuke shook his head at Karin, who froze. "And as for my supposed 'type' – Don't assume things about someone you don't even know. That goes for this moron here, too." Sasuke gestured to Narumi.

"Hey!!" Narumi gasped.

Sasuke slipped his arm out of Karin's grasp and stepped over to Narumi, "As I was saying, next time you decide to get a job without telling Kiba, make sure he leaves me out of it. I had to skip Tennis Club today because of it," he said to Narumi.

"It wasn't my fault." Narumi shrugged.

"Yes it was," Sasuke replied easily.

"How come?" Narumi frowned.

"Because Kiba got worried like usual and pulled me along against my will." Sasuke answered.

"Oh..."

'_They're... ignoring us?!_' Karin silently fumed, watching on with an irritated expression. Her two friends looked at one another with annoyed looks, and nodded. Taking a shoulder of Karin's, each, they exited the store together.

It was then that Zabuza stepped outside the kitchen, dragging Suigetsu along by his ear with a frowning expression set in his eyes.

"The orders for the girls, and our second waiter is here... Hm? Where'd the customers go? Narumi..." Zabuza looked over at the blond darkly, and she jumped with shock. Sasuke looked mildly surprised at their arrival.

She anxiously turned to Zabuza, "Uhhm.. Eheheh. Yes boss?" she asked.

"What happened to the customers?" Zabuza asked her with a growl, "Did you chase them out again?" he added. Narumi blanched white.

"I-I can explain! Honest! You see-"

"Sasuke??" Suigetsu questioned, looking over at the dark-haired high-school freshman.

"What're you doing here, Suigetsu?" Sasuke asked, sounding calm despite his surprise.

"I should asking you the same thing! Are you friends with the twerp or something?" Suigetsu asked Sasuke, and then whined as Zabuza tugged harder on his ear, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" he gasped, grasping at his captured ear-lobe.

"Catching-up time is after work hours. Which you've missed an hour of, by the way, Suigetsu. Get changed, and get to work." He told the white-haired boy, before releasing him.

"Aye-aye captain.." Suigetsu stumbled towards the staff-room; "Sasuke, we'll talk later so stick around, okay?!" he called to Sasuke.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, 'Don't count on it.' he thought.

Kiba and Haku finally returned from the bathroom. Haku looked around curiously, and scratched his head, "Where did Karin-san and her friends go?" he asked.

"Somewhere far away, I hope." Narumi grumbled, and Zabuza glared at her. She yelped, and quickly shut up.

Zabuza sighed, "Haku, I'm going to have to send you out to draw in customers again, since Narumi chased off the last three," he told Haku.

Haku nodded with a smile, "It would be my pleasure, tou-sama. Goodbye for the time being, everyone," he gave a light bow to Sasuke, Kiba and Narumi, before removing his work apron and heading past them out of the cafe.

Sasuke curiously watched Haku depart, before looking around. He looked down at Narumi, and she raised her eyebrows under his stare.

"What??" she asked him.

Sasuke smirked, "Aren't you going to ask your customer for his order, waitress?" he asked her. Narumi flushed.

"What!?"

"Oh! Can I get a the burger special?" Kiba piped up.

"Huh?" Narumi looked over at him. He quickly looked away to hide his rosy cheeks. "What's wrong with you??" Narumi frowned.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Kiba, '_Kiba seriously needs to learn how to control his dumb and weird fetishes..._' he thought to himself.

* * *

The next day at Konoha High during the first break, at the School Newspaper Clubroom, the door opened and in stepped a teenager with short black hair, pale skin and deep, ebony eyes.

"I've arrived, Kabuto-sensei," the dark-haired boy announced to the young man sitting at a desk.

With a tired sigh, the silver-haired man in his early twenties sat back in his chair and slouched slightly. Rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and adjusting his specks with the other, he turned his head to the student.

"Ah, Sai-kun! Nice to see you. You're the only one who actually shows up here anymore," Kabuto smiled to Sai.

Sai returned the smile with a thin grin, "Of course, sensei." He nodded, and looked around, "But why don't the others attend anymore, I'm curious." Sai wondered.

Kabuto sighed, "I'll show you. Come here and look at this e-mail I got from the principal's secretary." He waved Sai over.

Sai blinked, and set his folder on a table before making his way over to Kabuto's desk. He leant over the work-top to look at the screen.

"What is it?" he asked, as he read through the letter quickly.

"Shizune-sensei says that the students these days aren't buying enough copies of the 'Konoha Report' and Principal Tsunade has decided that if we don't sell at least 100 copies in a couple weeks, they'll have to abolish this club. We're in deep waters." Kabuto explained.

"Mm, it doesn't look good," Sai murmured, agreeing.

"Our other fellow members have already given up on this club," Kabuto sighed, "If only we had ourselves an interesting scoop that would have the students buying like crazy...! Sai-kun, any ideas?" he asked Sai.

Sai rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his eyes hardening with focus, "Hmm... Perhaps a study on the schools' boys' genita-"

Kabuto stopped him before he could say any more, "No! No- Nothing like that, Sai-kun. The Principal would abolish the club just for an article like that...!" he said nervously.

Sai blinked, "I can't.. think of any other ideas, Kabuto-sensei. I'm sorry," he tipped his head.

Kabuto put his forehead to his hand, '_What a bizarre boy I'm stuck with..._' he thought, and sighed; "Well, in any case, I'll let you borrow one of our cameras, Sai-kun. Please take it with you in case you sight anything... interesting." Kabuto told Sai, handing him a camera.

Sai took the camera and looked at it thoughtfully, before bowing his head to Kabuto, "I understand." He said, "I'll be going now," he said, walking towards the door and grabbing his things.

"Good luck," Kabuto waved slightly, before turning away as the door shut behind Sai, sighing out again.

* * *

Walking down the corridors, Sai flipped through the different settings the camera held, trying to decipher what some of them meant from what he'd learned in the books on photography he'd read.

"Hmm.." he muttered, 'This is the first time I'll use a camera. It'll be an interesting experience in itself,' he thought.

"Hurry it up, Narumi. What did you lose this time?" a voice came as Sai turned a corner and he quickly dashed behind it again.

"I swear I didn't lose it! It's gotta be in here somewhere!"

"But what is it?"

"Gama-chan! My purse!"

"That ridiculous frog-shaped thing you own is a purse?"

"Shut up! Gama-chan is not ridiculous at all!"

"Hn."

'Ah, it's Sasuke-kun and Narumi-san.' Sai identified the two, observing them from around the corner as Narumi dug through her locker, searching frantically for the previously mentioned 'Gama-chan'.

"If you don't hurry up, there won't be anything left in the students' shop. Let me look," Sasuke said, pushing Narumi aside a little to rummage through the locker himself, "Do you ever tidy this thing out?" he asked.

"Why would I?" Narumi questioned as if the question was a silly one.

"..." Sasuke kept quiet but rolled his eyes, and then blinked, "Is this what you're looking for?" he asked with a blank expression, pulling out a small, greed frog-shaped purse.

"Ah! That's it!" Narumi exclaimed happily and snatched the purse, "Ah, Gama-chan, I was worried I'd lost you~!" she cooed, hugging it close.

"Cut that out, it's stupid." Sasuke shook his head.

"Hey, shut up! Mind your own business!" Narumi pointed at Sasuke with the purse.

Sasuke brushed it aside and tsked, "Not even a 'thank you' for finding it?" he asked, leaning in close to her face with a scrutinising gaze.

"Huh? H-Hey, get out of my face!" Narumi started, stepping back a little. Sasuke leaned forward a bit more.

'_Hm? What's this? Isn't Sasuke-kun one of the most sought-after boys in the school? Why would he hang out with someone such as Narumi-san? Interesting..._' Sai thought, and brought out his camera, taking a snapshot of them before ducking around the corner and walking away.

'_Perhaps a scoop of this kind will save the Newspaper Club...?_'

* * *

**Kin:** I hope you enjoyed! It took me a while, but I got it out. And I've set things up nicely for the next few chapters too, so I'll try to update quicker this time. Don't hold you're breath though, you should know how I am by now. -_sweat drops_-


	6. Spread like Wild Fire!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**

* * *

****Chapter 6 – Spread like Wild-Fire**

* * *

_The Sakura trees were in full-bloom that year, when we were in middle-school. She had called me out to speak in the groves, saying it was something important._

_Sakura and I were pretty close back then, and I could safely say that she had been the first girl friend I ever had. _

_It was a shame it all came to an end that day, thanks to a dumb, untrue rumour._

'_Sakura-chan! Hey, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?!' I had called her that day, running towards her and waving my hand in the air._

_Sakura turned to face me, her hair wavering in the air like the petals that fell over us. Her eyes looked like they contained an angry fire, and a frown was set on her face._

_Seeing the look on her face, I'd slowed down and my grin had faded; 'What's'a matter? Sakura-chan?' I'd asked her._

_She growled a little under her breath, 'I usually overlook the fact that you and Sasuke-kun are friends, 'cause you say you don't like guys like him.' She began and I frowned._

'_Huh?? Yeah, so? What're you getting at...'_

'_I dunno if it's true, but I heard a rumour today from Ino-chan and the other girls. They say they saw you and Sasuke-kun... holding hands. In a couple-like way,' Sakura said and my face had twisted into a disgusted look._

'_Ew! That's gross. They don't know what they're talking about, Sakura-chan. Why'd you believe something that Ino says anyway?' I asked her._

'_Cause Ino-chan's my friend too, Narumi! And... thinking about it, it all makes sense you know. You've known Sasuke-kun longer than I have but you always say that he's just a friend.. I can't believe you'd lied to me all this time and that I- that I believed you...' Sakura turned away._

'_Huh!? No, I told you Sakura-chan! Sasuke's too much of an ass to be my kind of guy.'_

'_Don't talk that way about Sasuke-kun!' Sakura yelled in response at me, and hung her head, 'A... A girl like you doesn't deserve the attention you get from him. He won't even look my way, even when I'm with you!' Sakura scowled, her brow furrowing._

'_S-Sakura-chan...'_

'_That's why I called you out here, Narumi. I think we should stop being friends.'_

_

* * *

'__If I don't hang around you, I can impress Sasuke-kun as myself. And not as Narumi's friend._'

It's been a year and a half since then, and true to her word Sakura didn't associate with Narumi as a friend anymore. She started hanging out with Ino, and started acting spiteful and cold with her. Narumi had come to accept it -though she was still a little angry that a boy had split them up- , that she and Sakura were no longer friends.

But love can break even the strongest of relationships.

It can make you do crazy things.

It can hurt other people around you, as well as yourself.

And with love, comes insecurity and jealousy. Who knew that one little rumour would rekindle the flames of the fire of jealousy once again?

"Narumi!!"

The calling of her name caused the sixteen year old blond to look up from her locker. She let a sour look across her face as her two classmates Sakura and Ino stormed up towards her with angered expressions.

"What is it this time? I just got into school, I haven't done _anything_ yet!" Narumi said to the girls.

"It's not what you did today! In fact, it's something you did yesterday! You sneaky witch, you thought you could get it by us?" Ino growled, glaring at Narumi.

Narumi glared right back at the blond, "What the hell are you talking about??" she asked them, genuinely at a loss for what they were talking about.

"Don't play dumb, Narumi, even if you're good at it." Ino folded her arms.

"We've already seen the proof. We knew you were shameless, but cornering Sasuke-kun and seducing him into kissing you? Someone like you doesn't have that right!" the pink-haired girl said to Narumi, who wrinkled her nose.

"What... the hell?! Cornering him? Seducing and kissing him?! I'd never do something so creepy. That's something that you girls, or that creep Karin would do – Not me!" Narumi protested.

"Creepy?! A kiss from Sasuke is a privilege! I could punch you for that!" spat Ino.

"Go ahead and try. I bet you can't even through a punch," Narumi stuck a tongue out at Ino, who was trying to burn wholes in her with her eyes; Narumi then turned to Sakura, "Look, I haven't got a clue what you guys are on about, but you've obviously got the wrong person. I'm outta here!" Narumi said, closing her locker and brushing past them.

"We're not finished with you yet!" Ino called after Narumi, as the bell for first class rang.

"We continue this at break, you hear us?!" Sakura called after her, then sighed out irritably, running a hand through her strawberry locks, "Ino-chan, I think Narumi has a point, you know? She'd never think of seducing Sasuke-kun, at least not intentionally. And even then, she's probably rubbish at it." she said to her blond friend.

"Sakura, you're too naive. That Narumi's like a fox; she's sneaky and you don't know if she is or isn't up to something. And why are you defending her? Is it because you used to be friends with her??" Ino asked Sakura.

Sakura frowned, "Of course not. That ended last year. It's just that I don't really trust the guy who took the picture. Sai-kun is-"

"-totally hot and completely trust-worthy!" Ino finished defensively, shaking her head.

Sakura gave her friend a tired look, "I think you're the one who's too naive." She muttered under her breath.

* * *

"I want a copy of the Konoha Report!"

"Me too! What Ami said can't have been true."

"But it's worth checking, isn't it? Fork over a copy! I'll pay whatever the price!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down, ladies, I'll have a few copies printed and brought to you right away." Kabuto said, taking the money the girls shoved in his face as payment for the paper, and organising the change. He looked over his shoulder into the Newspaper Clubroom, "Sai-kun, are the copies ready yet?" he asked the ebony-haired teenager.

"They're almost done," Sai said hurriedly, pulling together the papers and binding them as fast as he could.

Ever since they'd set out a copy of the newspaper on display for the wall, girls had been coming in thick and fast to buy their own copies. Their front-page, 'School's #1 Hottie Kisses The Class Clown' had really gained the interest of the school's female majority, as well as a surprising amount of the male students too! Neither Kabuto nor Sai had expected such a turn of events, though it was welcomed more than graciously.

"With the way our paper is selling, we may be out of the red zone for good. I never expected to get such an amazing scoop for our paper when I took the role of this club's supervisor I must say! Maybe with this, our fellow members will return too," Kabuto said, scratching his head with a genuine grin on his face as Sai came out with the stack of newspapers and the girls quickly took their copies and ran off saying their thanks.

"And I have you to thank, Sai-kun. An excellent job! Are you sure you're only a beginner as a photographer?" Kabuto asked Sai.

Sai smiled bashfully, rubbing his cheek, "Yes, I am new to photography. It really was pure luck that I managed to witness that moment." He nodded.

Kabuto let out a sigh as the crowds finally died down, "It's an intriguing story for I myself, also. Those two have been friends for some time, but I never thought it would develop into this kind of relationship because of their stubborn personalities," he said to Sai.

"I heard a rumour, that friendship quite often develops into more, but I agree. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it... Though I wonder if I got the wrong idea? I wasn't exactly at a good position to see what was really going on." Sai mused.

Kabuto looked down at Sai, "So, are you saying that our report is false?" he asked, a bit worried.

Sai blinked, "I'm... not sure. Perhaps I should have investigated further before bringing the picture back?" he asked, frowning a little.

Kabuto patted his shoulder, "Don't jump the barrel just yet. If it hasn't already, there's nothing saying that something can't develop from this situation instead, making our presumptions a truth." Kabuto gave his musings.

"Hm. Perhaps..." Sai nodded, choosing to take his club supervisor's optimistic side.

* * *

It was lunch-time and Sasuke, Narumi, Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji and Tenten were eating dinner together under the trees. Angrily taking a bite out of her Karepan, Narumi swallowed down her meal quickly to continue talking.

"And then she says 'A kiss from Sasuke-kun is a privilege!' I don't know what went into their water, but they're totally not right in the head," she said.

"I gotta agree with that. Sasuke ain't so special." Shikamaru nodded, looking at the clouds above him.

Sasuke frowned, "I'm right here, you guys." He said, annoyed that they were talking about him like that, in front of him.

Narumi turned to Sasuke, "This is probably your fault anyway, Sasuke! You should set it straight with your fan-girls before they get violent! I don't need this kinda trouble, damnit," she complained to him.

Sasuke blinked, "Why is it my fault again? I'd rather avoid talking to them if I can help it. They're always hostile towards you and it never bugged you before." Sasuke asked her.

"It's your fault, before you leaned so close to me yesterday! A fan-girl probably saw and spread it amongst her fellow Sasuke-stalkers, so now they're all giving me the evil-eye whenever they see me. Why the hell did you do that anyway?!" Narumi angrily asked Sasuke.

"Huh?" Sasuke thought back to the previous day, when he had indeed leaned in towards her. He had no clue why he'd done it, really. In all honesty, it was more to tease her than any other reason. Because her angry looks, admittedly, were rather cute to him. Not like he'd ever admit that to her, that is. "You had a grain of rice on your forehead, that's why. Remember I pulled it off you after that?" he gave an excuse.

"No you didn't, you just poked me on the forehead!" Narumi retorted, rubbing her forehead at the memory.

"But you did have rice on your forehead," Sasuke shrugged.

"No I didn't! I had Ramen that day!" Narumi shook her head.

"Is that a fact?"

"Yeah, it is!"

"Would you two stop arguing already? You sound like an old married couple," Shikamaru muttered.

"No we don't!!" the two snapped at Shikamaru. It was then that an arrow went speeding into the tree-trunk right in front of Narumi's face, and she yelped falling back.

"W-What the hell was that!?" Narumi yelled.

"It's an arrow." Sasuke informed her.

"I knew that! I meant why did it nearly pierce my goddamn nose!?" Narumi retorted.

"And who shot that thing?" Tenten asked, crawling over to look at it, as Neji looked around for the archer who had fired the arrow with a frown on his face. Tenten blinked, and then pulled the arrow from the tree, removing the paper tied around it. She handed it to Narumi, "Looks like there's a message attached to it," she said.

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows incredulously, "What is this, the medieval times??" he asked.

"I didn't think they sent messages by arrow anymore..." Chouji muttered in agreement after eating a potato chip.

"Shut up! ...What's it say?" Narumi asked herself, unfurling it and beginning to read it. Her expressions changed from annoyed, to disgusted, to exasperated, to shocked and her friends.

"What _does _it say?" Sasuke repeated Narumi's own question, turning his head curiously to her.

"It's a letter of threat," Narumi replied, surprisingly serious. Her friends gave her their full attention at this. "They're saying that I should stay away from Sasuke, if I don't want my life to be made into a living hell. I'm not exactly sure what those girls can actually _do_ to me, but I'm not so worried about that. But..." Narumi trailed off, looking annoyed.

"What is it?" Neji questioned.

Narumi took out a newspaper clipping that had been attached to the note and showed it to them all. They all gasped (except for Sasuke, who widened his eyes and twitched a little). The picture clearly showed Sasuke leaning over Narumi, and it truly looked like they were kissing.

Tenten took the clipping from Narumi's hand and looked at it up close, "Well, from the angle it was taken at, anyone would get the wrong idea. The person who took the photograph probably did as well..." she reasoned, and then frowned, "But that still doesn't give them the right to publish this, even if you two _were _kissing!" she added.

"We weren't kissing, damn it!! Why the hell does this stuff always happen to me?!" Narumi whined, covering her face.

"I know you didn't, Narumi, and all of us here totally trust what you say." Tenten said with a smile, "Right guys?" she asked the boys.

"Well, on this case, at least." Neji nodded his head.

"We know how much the thought of kissing Sasuke disturbs you, so yeah," nodded Shikamaru, and Chouji mutely agreed.

Sasuke didn't have anything to say. He was just as much the victim here as Narumi was, after all; though he wasn't asking for sympathy or support or anything.

Narumi smiled back, "Thanks, you guys," she said sheepishly, "But that doesn't change the fact that I've got an army of fan-girls against me. There are a heck of a lot of them around and I can't take them all on alone." She said.

"That's why we've got your backs!" Tenten thrust her thumb towards herself and nodded to the others, "We'll recruit Hinata-chan and Shino-kun to watch your backs, and I'm sure Lee-kun would defend you too. So don't worry about this. We'll find the guy who took that photo, and set both him and everyone else straight about this matter," she said.

Narumi nodded her head, "Right! Haha, thanks again! You guys are the best," she said with a huge grin on her face.

She had her friends on her side, and that's all that mattered!

* * *

Kiba stared at his copy of the Konoha Report in his hands, his eyes narrowed. He shakily crushed the newspaper in his hands and hurled it into the trash-can, then taking off down the corridors.

'_Damn it, Sasuke you bastard! You're not getting away with this!!_' he inwardly snarled, stalking towards the outdoor lunch-hall to find Sasuke.

* * *

**Kin:** Uh oh, things are getting tricky, huh? (:s) Well, I hope you enjoyed the update. And also, I hate to have to ask for them, but I noticed I didn't get as many reviews as I usually do on the last chapter... Could you review this time, if you have the time?? Thanks for reading!


	7. Kiba VS Sasuke!

**Disclaimer****:**_ I don't own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and all other copyright holders. _

_

* * *

_**Chapter 7 - Kiba VS Sasuke**

**

* * *

**

Narumi was with Hinata and Shino. Hinata, upon hearing of Narumi's current situation, had volunteered to stay with Narumi during break and lunch-times for today. Because of this, Narumi had tagged along with the dark haired girl and the glasses-wearing boy as they fed bread crumbs to birds in the court-yard.

Narumi was covering her mouth to hold back her laughter, watching as another bird fluttered down to land on Shino's head. That brought the grand-total of birds perching on Shino up to 13. He sure was surprisingly popular.

"Haha, this reminds me so much of a scene from Beauty & the- _haha _–Beast..!" Narumi muffled out from behind her fingers.

Shino paid her no heed and continued to sit as still as possible, watching the birds feed from the crumbs in his hand and around him on the ground.

Hinata put her hands on Narumi's shoulders, trying to get her to settle down, "N-Narumi-san, cut it out, that's mean."

"But it really looks like it, doesn't it?? Hey, come to think of it, you two remind me a whole lot of that Disney film, Hinata-chan!" Narumi insisted.

Hinata blushed a little at the implications, and sighed, "I-It's still not nice to laugh. You'll scare the birds away if you keep being noisy." She said.

"Aw, you're no fun. I can't help it if the mental image is funny!" Narumi said, lowering her tone and muffling another small laugh.

Hinata sighed, and smiled a little.

"More importantly," Shino began and the two girls looked to him, "I'm curious. Why exactly did Sasuke-san lean in towards you in the first place? He must have foreseen this kind of outcome, even just a little. So, I wonder why he did it," He pointed out, bringing out some more bread and gently tearing it to smaller chunks for the birds.

More birds flocked down to eat.

"Huh, he said that I had rice on my forehead, but I'm not so sure if I believe that. For one I didn't have rice that day, and also, he was staring at me a bit too much to just get rid of it." Narumi folded her arms and looked up pensively, "Kinda freaked me out. Invading my personal bubble- he's never done that before," she added with a shrug.

Shino glanced over his shoulder, "_That's interesting. I wonder if something is developing behind the scenes..._" He wondered, his thin brows rising slowly in intrigue. He continued, "If that's how it is, then the Konoha Report's article is completely false." He said, "_At least, for now._" He added mentally.

"Exactly!! When I get my hands on the guy who snapped that photo...!" Narumi agreed, folding her arms.

"Please try not to get too angry, Narumi-san..! I'm sure that if we endure it and try to reason with the girls, it'll eventually get better." Hinata said with a supportive smile.

Narumi sat back a little and sighed out, "Yeah." She agreed. A faint sound of cheering and booing filled the air, causing the three of them to curiously glance in its direction. A few birds darted into the skies, frightened by the sudden noise.

"Wh-what could that be?" Hinata asked, glancing worriedly.

"It's coming from the direction of the playing field." Shino mentioned.

Narumi groaned and put her hand to her forehead. "Please tell me that isn't what I think it is...!" she uttered to herself. Shino and Hinata looked at Narumi.

"What do you mean by that?" Shino bluntly inquired.

Narumi looked to them anxiously, and then rubbed her head. "It was yesterday at lunch-break, a little while after that arrow with the note was sent..." she began, her thoughts drifting back to the previous day.

-

_Me, and the rest of the guys were discussing how to go about setting everyone straight about this whole mess. Our best course of action so far had come from Tenten and Neji; their idea was to first confront the source of the problem; The School Newspaper Club chairman._

_It was our best choice, because my plan –Have Sasuke get the girls off my back- compromised Sasuke. He wanted to avoid confronting his fan-girls at all costs._

_That's kinda selfish of him but I do understand- those girls are _crazy_!_

_So after that, we were about to get up to head back to our next class when Kiba tore out into the courtyard and stormed towards us._

'_Eh, Kiba, where have _you_ been?' I asked him, getting up quickly._

_Kiba walked brushed by me roughly, stalking towards Sasuke with his face scrunched up in... anger? _

_He stood over Sasuke, glaring down on him with his arms folded. 'Get up.' He ground out through his teeth. Sasuke only looked back up at him calmly, as if trying to figure out what exactly was eating Kiba._

'Kiba... Why were you so late out for lunch?' he asked Kiba carefully.

'_Don't act so calm and innocent! I know what you did, Sasuke. What the hell do you think gives you the right to go around kissing people? Did you think of the consequences?!' Kiba retorted, 'You're just a friend!' he added._

'_Eh? Kiba, wait - calm down. You've got the wrong idea-' Tenten began, getting up and walking over to the two guys._

'_I wasn't done! Jus' stay outta this- it's between me, Sasuke and Naru!' Kiba snapped at Tenten. Tenten shrunk back a little, annoyed._

'_Well that was kinda rude.' She said with a pout. Neji put a hand on her shoulder and she looked to him. He shook his head with a sigh._

'_Just leave this to those three, like he said. We shouldn't butt in on this.' He told her._

'_Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted – You're just a friend. And so am I - I _know_ that. But since I'm her friend, I know that she definitely wouldn't go around kissing _you_ of her own free will. You must've forced her into it, right?' Kiba questioned him._

_I decided to step up, 'Now wait just a minute! Hold on!! What the hell are you getting so heated over Kiba?? You're acting like his stupid fan-girls are!' I said, attempting to push Kiba away from Sasuke- which wasn't working._

_Kiba turned to me, 'Am I not allowed to be protective over you?! I care about you, you know! So don't butt in, Naru.' He said, brushing my hand away lightly. His expression was a little calmer than before, but he was still angry, I could tell._

_I stepped back, my eyebrows cocked with confusion, '_Well, of course I know he cares about me... And I care about him too! We've been friends for so long, so it's obvious..._' I thought, watching on as Kiba turned back to Sasuke._

'_Sasuke, I don't know what you were thinking when you did that to Naru. And like hell do I know what you're thinking right now. But either way, we're gonna settle this matter like men.' He said to Sasuke, and we all raised our eyebrows at him._

_Shikamaru groaned, 'I just know this is gonna be troublesome...' he commented._

_Kiba pointed his finger right in between Sasuke's eyes, 'So, I challenge you Uchiha Sasuke! You and me – tomorrow, on the playing field!!' he announced loudly._

_Shikamaru was right. It definitely will be troublesome._

-

"So because Kiba got the wrong idea- He probably read the newspaper article on his own- he got mad for some reason and challenged Sasuke to a one-on-one rugby match. But since Sasuke's not the rugby type, we managed to persuade him to allow three other team-mates each to back Sasuke up." Narumi concluded her explanation.

"S-So... that shouting was the match in progress?" Hinata guessed, and Narumi nodded, "Should we go watch? I-I mean, to make sure that nobody gets hurt. S-Sasuke-kun isn't as skilled in rugby as Kiba-kun is, right? I-I have a first-aid kit in my bag." She said, rummaging around her book bag.

"Yeah we probably should, though I don't fancy watching two guys practically fighting over me." Narumi frowned, annoyed. "Besides, Sasuke's covered. We got your cousin, Neji to help out Sasuke's side, and watch his back. And to make it fair, Rock Lee volunteered to help out Kiba's side." She shrugged, trying to think of an excuse.

"If that's the case, then those two will be too preoccupied with each other to cover Sasuke and Kiba. I stand by Hinata-san's suggestion. We should go to make sure they don't kill each other." Shino said, scattering the rest of the bread crumbs and getting up.

"Agh, fine! Let's go!" Narumi gave in, and began running towards the playing field, Hinata and Shino right behind her.

* * *

_Crash!_

Sasuke skidded and landed elbows-first into the dirt, and groaned, pushing himself up. He currently had the ball, but Kiba was hot on his trial so if he didn't move now he wouldn't have it for too long. He grunted, standing up and dashing towards Kiba's goal quickly.

"_I was concerned at first, since Kiba had Lee on his side,_" he thought, glancing over at Rock Lee and Neji to see them marking each other busily, "_But at least I've got Neji. That way, he can keep him busy for me. The other guys are tough too, but Kiba's obviously their best player._" Sasuke thought to himself, glancing around warily as he dodged a couple of Kiba's players.

"Sasuke, get back here!!" Kiba yelled after him.

"_He actually believes I'll stop for him... like hell I will. I'm lucky I'm more agile than him._" He thought to himself, and made for the goal with the ball.

Throwing down the ball down onto the ground beneath the goal, Sasuke skidded to a halt and turned to Kiba with a smirk.

"Oh yeah?! So what - we're tied now! That doesn't change anything. I'll beat you to the next goal!" Kiba retorted, retrieving the ball.

With that, the game continued.

Standing on the side-lines, was practically every girl in school, and they were all cheering Sasuke on, of course. Ino and Sakura had front-row seats.

"I would've never thought that it would develop to this! I wonder why Kiba challenged Sasuke-kun to such a match..." Sakura pondered out loud, as Ino cheered Sasuke on. She paused in her cheering to fold her arms and glance at Sakura.

"Well it's obvious why he picked such a brawn-based sport, at least; he being one of the team's best players. He's obviously showing off- trying to overpower Sasuke-kun, who is more graceful than forceful and isn't used to this kind of sport! It's obvious why he's trying to show off, too. Ha, Narumi should just open up her eyes, and settle for the guy who actually _likes_ her." Ino smirked, "She would save us a truck-load of trouble." She added.

"Hmm, yeah. I agree." Sakura nodded, and turned to Tenten, "Hey, Tenten-senpai?" she asked her curiously.

"What." Tenten said flatly, clearly annoyed that she had been stuck sitting next to the two girls. She'd come along mostly to support Neji, but she hadn't signed up for this.

Sakura pouted, "No need to get snappy! I was just wondering, what exactly _does_ the winner get out of this little bout?" she asked Tenten.

Ino turned to the two, also curious, "Yeah, what _is_ the prize? Besides the satisfaction that they kicked the others' ass?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

Tenten looked up at the two girls a moment, before smirking.

"The winner gets to keep Narumi." She told them with amusement in her voice. Sakura and Ino looked horrified.

"WHAT?!?!" they yelped, and got up to their feet.

"G—Go for it dog-b—I mean, Kiba! GO KIBA!!" Ino began trying to cheer enthusiastically for Kiba.

"Yeah, you can beat Sasuke-kun at this at least! Uhm, do your best...!!" Sakura joined in, and Tenten giggled at their sudden enthusiasm for Kiba's victory.

On the playing field, Kiba smirked at Sasuke, who was sizing him up to snatch the ball from his grasp, "Looks like the tables have turned, eh Sasuke? As you can see, they're all cheering for the right guy now." He said smugly.

Sasuke kept warily watching the brunet, "_Yeah right. Who's the right guy? What's the point of challenging me to a game like this anyway... Come to think of it, why the hell did I accept...?_" he thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Narumi, Hinata and Shino had just arrived at the playing field by them, Narumi pushing through the girls and Hinata and Shino still trying to get through. Narumi made it to the front, and gaped at how heated the game was already.

"What the hell are you guys doing?!" she yelled out in frustration, digging her fingers into her head with a growl. "_Whoever said having two guys fighting over you was a dream come true, was definitely wrong! Ugh!_" she groaned inwardly.

Tenten spotted Narumi and got up, going over to Narumi.

"Narumi-chan, so you decided to show up." Tenten said to her, grinning.

Narumi turned to her, "Tenten-senpai! Hey, how come everybody's cheering for Kiba? I thought they were Sasuke's fans." She asked the senpai with buns in her hair.

"Ha, well they found out what the winner gets and decided they didn't want Sasuke to win that kind of prize." Tenten said vaguely.

"What was the prize?" Narumi raised an eyebrow, curious.

Tenten laughed, "You. You dummy." She said, patting Narumi's shoulder. Narumi sputtered, her face going bright red.

"Wh-Wh- What kind of--!? I'm not a _thing_! You can't just sell me off like some kind of object!!" Narumi complained.

"Yeah well, don't look at me." Tenten shrugged, folding her arms loosely, "It was Kiba and Sasuke who settled for those arrangements." She informed the blond.

Narumi turned her head back to the game, where Kiba had scored another goal. She watched them carefully.

"_What? Even Sasuke...?"_ she wondered.

* * *

**_To be continued...!_**

_**

* * *

**_

**Kin:** Hiya, I finally got to update~! College is rough when you haven't been there in a while. XD;

Thanks for all the reviews you've given so far - I'm grateful! ^^ I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I was hoping to get Sai in, but sadly it was not so. -_unhappy face_-

Well, next time, for sure! -_good guy pose_-


	8. Behind the Lens!

**Disclaimer** _I don't own Naruto or any related characters! Everything is property of it's designated legal copyrighters._

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Behind the Lens**

* * *

Sai had been lured out onto the sports ground out of pure curiosity after hearing all that cheering, and had brought his camera just in case he got lucky again. He soon found the source of all the noise at the playing field and skilfully weaved himself through the mass of students bordering the grounds.

'_What's going on here...?_' he wondered, finally making it to the front. What he was fronted with was a simple rugby game. But wait... this wasn't an ordinary rugby game. '_Sasuke-kun and the captain of the rugby team...? Aren't they friends with each other? They're going at each other so violently..._' he wondered, watching the game curiously.

Kiba charged into Sasuke's side, elbowing him roughly and snatching the ball from him as Sasuke stumbled away with a grunt. Growling under his breath, Sasuke pursued Kiba, rubbing his side absently.

As Sai watched on, at a loss for why the two friends were playing so roughly, a certain blond noticed his presence.

With an excited squeal, Ino went over to join Sai, tapping his shoulder lightly.

Sai turned to her with a surprised look.

"Hiya, Sai-kun! What brings you here?" she asked him, grinning flirtatiously at him. Sai blinked a few times, before answering.

"I heard a lot of cheering... so I wanted to know what was happening." He told her, looking back at the game, "...Why are those two fighting?" he asked curiously.

"You don't know?" Ino asked him, looking up into his charcoal irises in surprise. Sai shook his head, "They're fighting because dog-boy got jealous of Sasuke-kun, for... you know. Everyone knows now, thanks to your bulletin in the Konoha Report!" she said, and leaned in to whisper, "It's no secret, but dog-boy? He's had a thing for Narumi for a while now. She doesn't know – cause she's an idiot. But that's why he got jealous, and challenged Sasuke-kun!" she explained to him.

"Because of my report?" Sai repeated, surprised.

"Yeah! I still refuse to believe it, but I'd never doubt you, Sai-kun!" Ino said, contradicting herself without noticing it.

Sai blocked out her comment, as well as her attempts to strike conversation up with him, watching the game in progress as it was coming to its final stages.

'_Because of my report... Two friends are fighting..._' Sai repeated to himself mentally, furrowing his brows slightly. He turned his gaze to where Narumi was standing, watching on anxiously, while receiving discreet glares from other girls. '_Because of me...?_' he thought again, furrowing his brows further.

_This isn't right._

Sasuke managed to regain the ball from Kiba, and quickly dashed back towards his target goal, while not bothering to keep tabs on Kiba's movements in favour of concentrating on his own moves.

'_I'm almost there...!!_' Sasuke thought, his eyes trained to the goal. He didn't notice Kiba gaining fast.

"SASUKE!!" Kiba roared out, tackling Sasuke's back and knocking him forward to the ground roughly. Sasuke yelped at the sharp impact on his side.

Kiba skidded to a halt, hanging over his torso and panting as his adrenalin rush died down.

"Sasuke!!" Narumi's gasp filled the air and Kiba turned to look over his shoulder to Sasuke, and Narumi who was running towards him. Sasuke was still on the ground, clutching his left arm with a wince.

Kiba faltered, watching as Narumi knelt down and tried touching the arm Sasuke was clutching and Sasuke yelped out, then telling Narumi to stop aggravating the wound.

Kiba had rammed him a bit too hard.

"What's wrong with it?" Narumi asked Sasuke, looking at the boy's arm with furrowed brows. Neji and Lee were on their way over to check up on them, as were Sakura and Tenten.

"Gah... I think it's broken." Sasuke hissed, his teeth gritted.

Kiba felt as though his feet were weighed to the ground by guilt. He hadn't meant for that to happen. Sakura knelt by them,

"Let me look at it!" she said, "I took a course in first-aid. We can take him to the nurse's office after that." She said seriously. Sasuke, seeing her serious demeanour, agreed to letting her handle his arm.

While she did, Narumi turned to Kiba with an angry expression, "What the hell was that!?" she yelled at him, and he winced.

With a growl, Kiba responded, "I dunno! I got caught up in the moment, and did out of the adrenaline rush!! I didn't mean to hurt him too bad..." he said, tersely turning away.

"Accident or not, Kiba-kun, you should _apologise_ to Sasuke-kun." Tenten said.

"You should be able to control yourself better, Kiba, honestly." Neji shook his head, sighing disappointedly. He turned to the girls who were anxiously awaiting info on the situation. "This little match is over, and there are no winners. We'll take care of the casualties, so clear off. You'll have plenty of opportunities to check up on them later." He explained to them.

The girls all sighed, disappointed, and began to file out.

Ino patted Sai's shoulder gently, "C'mon, Sai-kun. They said we have to leave, so we leave." She said to him.

Sai shook his head, "Yeah. I'll leave by myself, miss." He said.

"I told you, my name is Ino! Did you forget?" Ino asked, trying to sound sweet.

Sai glanced at her, "Ah, I knew. Have a nice day," he said, trying to gently let her know he didn't really care.

Ino gazed at him a few moments, before sighing out largely and making her way away from the playing field. Sai glanced at her departing figure, before turning to watch the playing field where Neji, Tenten and Lee were guiding Sasuke away, probably to the Nurse's office to get his arm checked out.

He glanced at Narumi, observing her frustrated and stressed expressions. He knew he'd screwed up on this one, and he didn't like being anything but truthful. He'd set things straight with the student body. But first, he had to get the real story behind the rumour. And to get that, he had to talk to Sasuke. But first, he decided he'd stick around to see how things turned out between Narumi and Kiba. After all, it was somewhat his fault for this whole situation. So he wanted to make sure he hadn't ruined anything between these two.

"So why the hell did you do all this Kiba?!" Narumi asked the brunet, frowning at him. "I know you're an impulsive guy, but if you'd just given me a chance to explain what was really going on, this could've all been avoided!" the blond told Kiba.

"I don't need someone to explain it to me. I saw the photo myself, and my eyes didn't play tricks on me, for sure!" Kiba retorted, "And it isn't fair! Sasuke doesn't even like you that way, right? So why does he get to do that, when I can't...?!" he asked.

"He didn't kiss me damnit! Seriously, why does everyone think that?!" she cried out frustratedly, a huge frown set on her face. She then realised what he'd just said, "And why does the idea of Sasuke bother you even more than it bothers _me_??" she asked, raising her eyebrow and folding her arms.

Kiba's cheeks flushed, and he averted his eyes, "It's... it's nothing. Forget it." he muttered, '_It isn't worth saying it. You'd probably not get it, anyway._' He thought to himself with a frown. "So... Sasuke _didn't_ kiss you...?" he asked her.

"Of course not! Augh, some guy just took a picture from a questionable angle and somehow that picture made it to the school newspaper club." She said, "And when I get my hands on that guy..." she added, cracking her knuckles. In the bushes, Sai sweat-dropped and made it a point to be careful around the blonde girl.

Kiba smiled slightly, '_I jumped to a conclusion by myself... Jeez, am I an idiot? Of course, there's no way those two could ever be... right?_' he reassured himself, looking at the girl beside him as she ranted on about what she'd do to the guy who took the photo of her and Sasuke.

"Heheh. I'll help you get 'im too! He'll be sorry he ever _took_ that picture." Kiba said with a smirk.

Narumi grinned, and punched the sky, agreeing. "Yeah!!" she enthused, and then settled down. She grabbed Kiba by the ear and pulled him up harshly to a stand.

"OW!! What the-?! Naru, that _hurt_!" he whined, rubbing his ear.

"It's not over yet! Come on, you've gotta apologise to Sasuke now! You went too far, you know," Narumi said, grabbing him by his shirt this time and dragging him along as she power-walked on her way to the school's main-building.

Sai, who had been observing quietly, ducked behind a tree and watched them pass by.

He looked at Kiba's back.

'_He's hiding something from her... I wonder what?_' he thought to himself, '_No matter. I'll have to wait before I can talk to Sasuke-kun now, though..._' he sighed, and began on his way back to the school's main-building as well.

* * *

"There we go... Remember, Uchiha-kun, you will have to keep it in the splint and sling for two to three weeks. And make sure to gradually increase activity to restore its muscle strength, joint motion and flexibility." The school nurse had been out on lunch-break at that moment, but luckily, the school secretary had previously been a medicine and nursing student, and had taken it upon herself to tend to Sasuke's arm instead.

"Hm." Sasuke nodded, still wincing at the pain.

"Thanks for helping out, Shizune-sensei," Tenten tipped her head politely. Shizune smiled to them.

"It's not a problem. But the bell rang five minutes ago – you three really should return to your classes! Off you go now! I'll go find the nurse, and she'll look after your friend." She told them, getting up.

"Yes ma'am! Thank you again!" Lee saluted and with that, the three second-years left the office. Shizune watched them leave, before turning to Sasuke.

"Want to tell me why your arm was broken?" she asked him gently.

Sasuke turned away uncooperatively, sniffing. Shizune sighed.

"Suit yourself." She shrugged, and left to search for the absent nurse.

Once she had gone, and turned a corner, Sai slipped into the room quietly. He was happy to have made it there first. Narumi and Kiba had probably been spotted by a teacher and taken to class, but he had been lucky.

"Good afternoon, Sasuke-kun," he greeted the boy, who looked to him cautiously.

"Who're you?" he asked evenly.

Sai smiled thinly, "Nobody important to you." He said and Sasuke had to agree with him on that one. Sai continued, "I watched your little match against Inuzuka-kun." He mentioned and Sasuke eyed him.

"Hn?" he asked.

"I was wondering, as well. Why you would have agreed to the Inuzuka's hasty challenge. I had thought you to be the type who preferred to be uninvolved in these kind of immature competitions?" he said to Sasuke, "Is there a reason why you accepted the challenge?" he asked, truly curious.

Sasuke frowned, "That's my business and my business alone. Don't be nosy." He said, looking out of the window to avoid eye-contact with Sai. His eyelids lowered as he retreated into thought. '_It's none of his business..._' he repeated mentally, sighing out.

_-_

_It was my first day of school. Being from a high-class family, I had been raised so far by older people and was home-tutored so far. I hadn't socialised much with people of my age-group. The closest to that, had been with my brother, Itachi, who was six years my elder. But brother was never around much, seen as though he had school to go to._

_He was a genius, and attended a private school for the brilliant minded. But to me, he was nothing more than my gentle, caring brother. I just wished he'd spend more time with me, because I loved him so much._

_It was awkward, starting school. Everyone around me was so bright, cheerful and playful. They all had friends, who they had known since kindergarten, so they had no problem with fitting in._

_I however, was a different matter. I was all alone._

_I sat on the swings, gripping the ropes as I watched my peers run, laugh and play. They were all having fun. _

_I wished I could join in. But I didn't know what to say. After all, I didn't have any experience with talking to others my age._

_But that's when they came over to see me. When I met her._

"_Hey, what're you doing all on your own!? Wanna play with us?" her bubbly voice entered my ears and I glanced up to her in surprise. There she was, a younger Uzumaki Narumi, a dash of colour to my dull life. She put her thumb to her chest, first, before gesturing to her friend, "My name's Narumi-chan! And this is Kiba-kun! What's your name??" she asked me._

_I glanced at Kiba, who seemed to be eyeing me warily, sticking close to Narumi._

_Looking back to Narumi, I smiled shyly, "Uchiha Sasuke." I told her._

_She giggled, "Nice to meet ya!" she said, and grabbed my hand, tugging me off the swing, "Now c'mon! We're gonna go play catch over there! Kiba-kun, get the ball!" she said, pulling me across the playground with her._

"_Okay!" _

_And I guess there and then, I had been forced into making my very first friends. But it's not as if I was against the idea of friendship, but rather, I was shy. Still, I was happy. Happy that she had talked to me._

_With a small laugh, I began running beside her, Kiba right behind us._

-

"_Sasuke! I'm here!" my brother's voice called out while I was walking out of school with my two new friends. I looked over in surprise to see Itachi standing there waiting for me._

"_Eh? Aniki, what're you doing here?" I asked, sticking with Narumi and Kiba._

"_That's your brother, Sasuke-kun? He's so biiiig!" Narumi breathed. Itachi looked from me, to Kiba and Narumi with raised eye-brows. He then smiled at me._

"_You made friends, Sasuke?" he asked me and I grinned, pleased with this fact._

"_Yeah!! But what're you doing here?" I asked again._

"_Ah right... Kaa-san couldn't come to pick you up today; she's not feeling well. So she asked me to come and get you on my way home. Want to come, or do you want to walk with...?" he trailed off, glancing at my friends._

_I looked from Narumi to Kiba anxiously._

"_Sorry!" Kiba said with a shrug, "My mama is picking me up today. She said she's getting me a puppy, for my birthday! It's next week! I'll be 10!" he boasted._

"_Woah, cool! I want a pet too!" Narumi squealed._

"_You can come over an' see 'im any time you want, once we've got 'im!" Kiba smirked._

"_Yeah!!" Narumi agreed, throwing her arms to the air, and then she turned to face Itachi and I, "I can walk with you guys! I don't have to be home yet." She said and I smiled._

"_Okay! This way! Aniki, c'mon," I said, grabbing both their hands and trying to pull them along. Itachi chuckled, letting my guiding him. _

_I couldn't help but to smile. I was so happy that she wanted to be my friend._

_-_

"_Sasuke... Are you okay...?" Narumi asked me, her brows furrowed with concern. _

_We were in our first year of middle-school when it happened. My mum had always been the frail type, and she often got sick. It happened to be that her health had slowly been deteriorating right under our noses, but she had kept it to herself. _

'I didn't even notice,_' I had thought angrily to myself, clasping my hands together as I sat in the waiting rooms of a hospital. '_I was too caught up in it all, all these years, to notice!_' I angrily berated myself._

"_Sasuke..." I felt her hand on my shoulder and winced._

"_I can't believe she's gone..." I hissed out, screwing my eyes shut and reaching up to cover my right eye. Narumi pulled me in to rest on her shoulder._

"_It's gonna be okay... but only if you want it to be. Remember, you've still got me, your brother and dad, Kiba, and the rest of us at school. We're here for you...!" she said, and I leant closer, burying my nose in her shoulder._

_I managed a small, barely existent smile. "Yeah..." I muttered, 'Thank you.' I told her, trying to tell with my eyes. She smiled brightly at me, and I suddenly felt just a little bit better._

"_No problem, Sasuke!" she nodded to me._

_-_

'_She's a dash of sunlight in my otherwise dull life. That's why I can't just let her go. Not for someone like Kiba.'_

With a small sigh, Sasuke looked back to Sai, "I'm not the kind of guy who doesn't support his friends when they really need it. And also, I'm not the kind of guy who ignores his friends' feelings out of selfishness." He said.

Sai tilted his head curiously, "Is that so?" he asked, and nodded, "I suppose that would be considered rather admirable. And 'honesty'. That's another trait that would be considered admirable, correct? I think you should start being honest with how you feel, as well." Sai said, standing up from the stool he had been balancing on.

As Sasuke looked at him, somewhat surprised, Sai turned to look at the door as he heard the sounds of footsteps closing in slowly.

"I have to go now, before they catch me out of class, but before I go, Sasuke-kun..." he paused, and smiled somewhat apologetic, "I'd like you to know. I was the one who took the picture." He said and Sasuke's eyes widened.

"You- It's _your_ fault?!" Sasuke gasped out, shocked.

"Only partly. After all, weren't you the one who positioned yourself so that it would be misleading?" he asked Sasuke, and the Uchiha flinched, "I'll be seeing you again, Sasuke-kun. Thank you for your time." Sai nodded, and made his way out of the Nurse's office. '_It feels... good? Yes. It feels good, to get it off my chest._'

Sasuke hung his head, '_He's right. I was the one who leant in..._' he thought to himself, somewhat sulkily. He'd have to find a way to make it up to Narumi for all the trouble he and _that guy_ (who he still hadn't got the name of) had caused her.

But what could he do for her?

* * *

_**To be continued...!**_

* * *

**Kin: **_Chibi-Sasuke!!_ So effing adorable!! X3 I hope that this chapter's look into the mind and memories of Sasuke was satisfying. I know it satisfied _me_! (It was _about time_ I developed Sasuke's emotions. ^^; )And Sai! Sai was there! _-loves Sai-_ I was originally planning something more for that scene with Narumi and Kiba, but I just couldn't get it down in words so I settled for what you read here. I hope that was satisfying too. ^_^

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter, so please review if you can? :3

Thank you~!


	9. The Things We Do For Friends!

**Kin:** _-cry of anguish-_ I finally managed to update! Sorry about the long wait, you guys. I had writer's block. But now it's here!! Good news! -_smiles_- Bad news is, I don't know when I'll get to post the next one. I'm on my last college course term so things are gonna get _REALLY_ hectic now. You'll have to patient with me again. You'll have had lots of practice, waiting for me. ^^;

**Disclaimer**_ I don't own Naruto!!_

**

* * *

****Chapter 9 – The Things We Do For Our Friends**

_tick.. tick.. tick.. tick.. tick.. tick._

After having spent the entire second half of the day in the Nurse's office, Sasuke could confidently say that he _never_ wanted to be stuck there again.

He stared at the clock on the wall adjacent from his bed, willing the minute hand to move just one more time. Just one more... and he'd be free to escape from this place.

_tick.. tick.. tick.. tick...... click._

_Brrrrrrinng!_

"Finally!" Sasuke ground out under his breath, pulling himself up off the head rest and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Getting up and being careful with his currently vulnerable appendage, Sasuke grabbed his bag with his unharmed arm from the corner of the room. Tenten had been thoughtful enough to pick it up for him.

He gazed over at the nurse, who had fallen asleep at her desk.

He didn't blame her. This place was pretty boring.

He cautiously leant out of the door-way, checking for any unwanted visitors who would hinder him from his departure.

To the left?

To the right?

The coast was clear.

He let out a relieved sigh, and began on his way home.

"Sasuke!"

Said Uchiha's body went stiff at the sudden calling of his name. He then realised, that he knew the voice. He settled a bit, and warily glanced at the brunet as he jogged to his side.

"...Kiba." he muttered, giving him an even look.

Kiba regarded him cautiously also, glancing down at Sasuke's arm which was now in a cast thanks to his recklessness. He then brought his eyes up to meet with Sasuke's obsidian ones. His lips were creased to a thin line and his brows were furrowed.

He looked like he had something to say, but didn't particularily want to say it. It was a pride thing.

Sasuke sighed, understanding the boy's pride. It was something the Inuzuka clan all possessed as he had learned through the years.

"If you have something to say, then say it. Nobody else is here." Sasuke told the brunet.

Kiba's brows furrowed further, and with a tsk, he folded his arms and looked away. "Look," he began, and paused, seeming annoyed, "You know already, that I care about Naru'," he said to Sasuke and the Uchiha nodded.

Kiba sighed, and looked down.

"We've known each other since we were five years old. Naru's a heck of a lot different from other girls. She's not girly, or a push-over. She's strong and fun, and she knows just how to have a good time, even if it means getting dirty! We've grown up together, and we care about each other. I care about Naru, and what happens to her. So if you ever hurt her... it doesn't matter whether you're her friend or not. I'll do much worse than that." He said, pointing to Sasuke's injured arm, "And I'll mean it!" he added with a glare.

Sasuke sighed.

Kiba has always been very protective of Narumi; he'd grown up putting up with Kiba's behaviour since he'd become friends with them. Even today, as they were all 15 years old, Kiba probably hadn't completely accepted Sasuke's presence. Though he doesn't show it, he's probably uneasy about leaving Sasuke and Narumi alone together.

It's a little sad... that even despite them being friends so long, that uneasiness was still lurking within their friendship. Something like this was enough to perhaps break the trust between them, which was so fragile.

Sasuke looked at Kiba, before sighing out again and looking out of the window, "Narumi is precious to me too, so you don't need to worry. I'd never do anything to hurt her." He said quietly.

The two regarded each other for a few moments in silence, ignoring any outside noises.

"Is that so? You'd better be sure," Kiba muttered, trying to repress a toothy grin.

"Like I said, don't worry." Sasuke said, smirking slightly.

"Ch-"

"HEY GUYS!! Sorry I'm late!" Narumi was suddenly between them, pulling them together with her arms around their necks and accidently ramming their foreheads together.

"GAGH!!" Kiba stumbled back in shock, covering his face.

"Narumi..!!" Sasuke snarled, pulling back and holding his head.

Narumi looked at them, blinking, "Ahh... did I do that? Sorry." She mumbled.

"Jeez, Sasuke, are you hard-headed or what?!" Kiba grumbled, nursing his head wound. Sasuke snorted.

"I could ask you the same." He frowned at Kiba, folding his arms and trying to look unaffected.

"What, are you guys _still_ arguing?? I told you to make up with him, Kiba." Narumi looked at Kiba with a frown. Kiba held up his hands to claim innocence.

"I did! I did!" he said, and grabbed Sasuke around the neck to pull him into a 'chummy' hug, grinning wolfishly, "See? We're the best of buddies, eh Sasuke?!" he said eagerly, tugging on Sasuke slightly to ask for his recognition.

"Let me go, Kiba." Sasuke said flatly.

"Don't be so difficult!" Kiba rummaged around in his pockets for something and brought out a pen, "Give me your arm – we can sign your cast! Naru', you too!" Kiba said and Sasuke's eyes widened.

"What!?"

* * *

With a tired sigh, Sasuke closed the door to his apartment, dropping his keys in the dish below the plant pot beside the door and dropping his bag nearby. He paused to lean against the door, looking down at his splinted arm.

The messy scrawls of red and green marker covered the bandages now, decorating the dull white with colourful doodles and messages.

Kiba's were rather crude, and badly drawn doodles; one in particular a child-like illustration of Sasuke with a hen sitting on his head, a scrawl reading '_get well soon chicken-butt!_' placed next to it.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Kiba's immaturity.

His eyes slipped over to Narumi's message next, and he softened.

'_So glad we're all still cool with each other even after this. And thanks for forgiving Kiba. I know he can be selfish sometimes, but so are you. And that's cool too! Get well soon! Being injured doesn't suit you._'

"Narumi..." Sasuke muttered, staring at the untidy scratches of her handwriting. He quirked a small smile, and got up off the door to walk towards his kitchen.

* * *

The next day, a solitary bush by Konoha Highschool had taken on the very important role as Uzumaki Narumi's 'base'. Cautiously peeking out from behind the shrubbery, she looked from left to right a few times, checking for any signs of Sasuke's fan-girls. She's be damned if she let them hound her first thing in the morning for something she didn't do.

From what she could see, she was safe to enter school for the time being; and upon realising that, she sighed out with relief.

"What _are_ you doing, Narumi?" a voice came suddenly and Narumi jumped a foot into the air with surprise.

"SA-Sa-sa-sa-sa-sa—" Narumi stammered, clinging to a nearby wall with an anxious grin as she turned to the speaker.

"Sa...?" the speaker attempted to coax the rest of the name out of Narumi.

"Sa-Sa-Sakura..! Er..." Narumi trailed off, squinting worriedly at the pink-haired girl before her, "_What will she do now...?_" she thought, bracing herself for the worst.

Sakura sighed out, and smiled a little, "Take it easy, I'm not going to bite." She said, rolling her eyes at the blond.

Narumi paused, confused, and looked curiously at Sakura through her squinted eyes, "Huh?" she asked.

"My parents wanted me home so I didn't get a chance to visit him yesterday, but you probably did since you're his friend... Um, is Sasuke-kun doing alright?" she asked Narumi shyly.

Narumi sighed, "_Oh I see... It's always about Sasuke._" She nodded to herself, "They gave him a cast, which he'll have to wear for a couple of weeks until it heals. He's not really hurt, his pride is just bruised, Heheh!" she said to Sakura, grinning.

Sakura let out the breath she'd been holding, patting her chest, "That's good." She sighed, "But doesn't he usually walk with you?" she added upon realising.

She looked around curiously; her brooding crush was nowhere in sight.

"He came to school with Kiba-kun today. I'm trying to get those two to solve whatever difficulties they may've had. I call it the 'Best-Friends-Recovery' plan!!" Narumi added.

Sakura hummed, "Isn't it a little dangerous leaving them alone together? I mean, Kiba _did_ break his arm yesterday..." she said, cautious.

"If they do anything, they know I'll kick their asses, so it's okay!" Narumi replied, folding their arms.

Sakura gazed at Narumi and then she smiled softly, "You three are really close, huh..." she muttered, and Narumi smiled a bit too, looking thoughtful.

"Yeah, well, we have been together, us three since we were little. It's only natural to look out for each other, right? It's what we do for our friends," the blond shrugged.

"Yeah, you're right." Sakura agreed, and lowered her line of vision, "_Wish I could be that close to Sasuke... Though I think he's starting to lighten up around me so I should be grateful.._" she thought to herself, clenching her hands against her emerald skirt.

"HEY!" Narumi suddenly gasped, and Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin. She was about to tell Narumi off when the blond continued, "There they are now!" she added and Sakura quickly turned to look where Narumi was.

Entering the school, standing at good distance away from each other, Kiba and Sasuke approached the two girls.

"G'morning you guys!" Narumi chirped.

"Naru, hey!" Kiba grinned at her, walking towards her quickly, ahead of Sasuke. He looked at Sakura curiously, who returned his gaze evenly. "Eh..? What're you doing talking to pinky? I thought you guys were arch-nemesis'..." Kiba questioned.

Sakura flushed, indignant, "You _dare_ say that again, dog-boy!!" she snapped at him, "And my name isn't pinky. That's rude!" she added.

Kiba shrugged, "Whatever... So why are you and Naru talking to each other? You're not picking on her again, are you?" he asked Sakura.

"I'm not that cruel." Sakura shook her head.

"Are you sure?" Kiba asked her, and smirked as she glared at him heatedly.

"Kiba-kun. Cut it out." Narumi said with a frown, and hit his shoulder lightly. She glanced at Sakura briefly, "_Though we were getting on pretty well just then. I wonder if... Sakura wants to be friends again..?_" she wondered.

"I was just asking her if Sasuke-kun was alright after his _accident_ yesterday..." Sakura said, pointedly to Kiba. Kiba flinched involuntarily, as Sakura turned to the silent Uchiha who was watching them, "Does... it still hurt? Did my first-aid help, Sasuke-kun...?" she asked him coyly.

"I think that much is obvious..." Sasuke mentioned with a shrug, looking down at his graffitied sling and cast.

"Ehh?? Who did this crude drawing!?" Sakura gasped at Kiba's message on the cast.

Narumi sweat dropped, "Ehh... Class is starting soon, right?" she mentioned, trying to avoid an argument.

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah." He agreed, gently tugging his cast from Sakura's grasp and walking past her. With that Kiba and Narumi began heading inside, Kiba chatting about the latest big game he'd watched on tv.

Sasuke paused on his way in, and glanced to Sakura. Sakura froze, surprised at his attention.

Giving a sigh, the Uchiha turned his back on her once more, and after a moment, he muttered, "Thanks for your help yesterday; and, for forgiving her," before heading inside the school, after his friends.

Sakura was still frozen in place, shocked. Sasuke had said thank you to her! This was surprising, coming from him. She hadn't expected one when she helped yesterday, but it was definitely a good thing.

Maybe he was lightening up to her? She couldn't ruin this. She'd continue the way she was now.

Sakura grinned broadly, and rushed inside as well.

* * *

School came and went for the students of Konoha High, and other schools in the surrounding areas and over at Kiri Cafe, Suigetsu sat at the counter, boredly polishing a glass with a hand towel over and over again. Since his tardiness the other day, his boss had been extra firm with bossing him around so there was no point of escape this time around.

...But it was just so boring!! If there wasn't money in it for him, he wouldn't have went for this job. He'd much rather hang out by the pool.

"_At least,_" Suigetsu thought, looking up to the ceiling, "_Kami-sama could be kind enough to send along some amusement for me, to cure my boredom._" He finished with a sigh.

He then began to wonder what was taking Narumi so long....

With that, the front door to Kiri Cafe opened with a jingle of the welcome bell and Suigetsu looked up, fully expecting to see Narumi there, panting like a mad dog and apologising for being late for work.

But it was not Narumi.

A more amusing girl had arrived.

She stared over at Suigetsu, her dark eyes wide with genuine surprise. He face then took on a distasteful sneer, "What the hell are _you_ doing here?" she asked him, frowning.

Suigetsu smirked, his eyes twinkling; he put a hand to his chest and feigned hurt, "Speaking so harshly? I'm almost offended!" he sighed dramatically.

"Shut up!! Answer the question, water boy." She said to him.

Suigetsu glanced back at her from his 'despair' act, and shrugged, "It's where I _work_. What's it to you Karin?" he asked her nonchalantly.

Karin scoffed, and turned on her way, "Another reason to leave this place for good!" she said, and just as she reached for the shop's door handle, someone grabbed it from the outside and the door opened once again.

Towering over her, the youngest Uchiha looked down at her in mild surprise. He sighed, "_Not this one again..._" he thought.

"And here's a reason to stay!" Karin gasped, going into fan-girl mode.

Narumi stepped in from behind Sasuke, frowning at her disapprovingly, "Agh, it's the fan-girl again." She muttered.

"Ha! Your words don't affect me." Karin smirked at Narumi, before preparing to sweet talk her latest 'target'.

"However, mine seem to work like a charm!" Suigetsu boasted, and Karin scowled at his voice, "Why didn't you stick around last time, Sasuke? You know I said to wait up so we could chat." He said to Sasuke.

"Had things to do." Sasuke shrugged. He brushed past Karin and headed towards the counter, "Where's the owner of this place? I need to talk to him about something." he said.

"Ah, sure just a sec'. I'll call him." Suigetsu said, blinking at the dark-haired one and then getting up to go out back.

Karin took this opportunity to pounce, pushing Narumi aside on her way over to Sasuke. She sat on the bar stool next to him and looked at him, pretending to be coy.

"So, Sasuke-kun, how have you been?" her eyes drifted from his dark facial features to the cast on his arm, "What happened to your arm?" she said, brushing her fingers over the cast.

Sasuke pulled his arm out of her touch, not looking at her, "Not your business." He replied.

Karin pouted.

"Shot down again, ha Karin?" came a smug call. Suigetsu had already returned.

"Why are you back so fast?!" Karin shrieked at him. Suigetsu chuckled, and lay against the wall cooly.

"Why do you want to know? Did you _miss_ me?" the white-haired boy asked her, wriggling his eye-brows at her.

"Certainly not!" Karin scoffed, looking away as Zabuza and Haku came out from the back. Haku turned to Narumi, and rushed over to guide her back behind the shop.

"Come on, now, you're already late. Time to get into your uniform for work," he said gently. Narumi groaned. As she left with Haku, Sasuke and Zabuza faced each other.

"What d'you want, kid?" Zabuza asked calmly, his arms folded.

Sasuke returned the gaze stoically, "A job." He replied, surprising Karin and Suigetsu... and Zabuza.

"Ehh? Sasuke-kun, why would you want to work with this infuriating brat?!" Karin yelped, pointing at Suigetsu, who was pulling down on the skin under his eye and sticking out his tongue at her mockingly.

Sasuke ignored those two, and continued talking to Zabuza, "I heard from Narumi that the reason she's working here is to pay off a debt that her foster father racked up. I owe Narumi a favour so, I'd like a job here to help her pay it off. So what're the hours?" Sasuke said to him.

"_For Narumi?! What _is_ there between those two..._" Karin thought suspiciously, seething at the not-present Narumi with jealously.

"Seems like you've convinced yourself that you've already gotten the job," Zabuza commented.

Sasuke smirked, "You need all the help around here as you can, right? If the girls at my school knew about me working here, they'd surely come." He said.

Zabuza's eyes hardened, "Cocky brat," he muttered, before loosening his shoulders as he sighed out, "However you're right about the needing help part." He added, and picked up an apron from the rack, "Consider this afternoon as you're trail run. You won't be paid for your work _today_ but if you fit the bill, we'll hire you on board... Just know that this isn't just a plan to help your friend pay her bills. You're here until I say so, or you better have a damn good reason for quitting. Understand?" he asked Sasuke.

"Understood." Sasuke shrugged. Suigetsu hopped over the bar and went to wrap an arm around Sasuke's shoulder.

"Hey, now we get to work together!" he said, grinning toothily, "Ain't it great?" he added.

"..." Sasuke didn't say anything in response to that, however, he smiled a little, "_Mission accomplished..._" he thought to himself.

With two people working towards the same goal, the job would get done faster.

* * *

**Kin:** Once again, many apologies for the lateness. Next one will probably be late too, sorry! -_sad face_- Unfortunately, college work calls. Maybe your comments on this chapter will cheer me up...


	10. The Day Everything Changes

**Kin:** It's been SOOOOOOOOOOO long since I updated ANYTHING! I'm really sorry. I lost the inspiration to write for Naruto-related stuff completely. But now I felt guilty, for not at least finishing one of my stories off. I can't finish KnS, I'm afraid. I've lost inspiration for that completely, and it's not coming back. But I will at least finish Best Friend! I actually know where this story is going. It's shorter than the usual length but this is the longest I can write.

I hope you enjoy the new chapter, and again I'm sorry for how long it took to update.

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does._

* * *

**Best Friend**

**Chapter 10 – The Day Everything Changes**

* * *

Maito Gai dressed in a bright green apron with the words "world's most youthful chef" would usually be enough to make _anyone_ stop and look twice. Or at least falter a little.

But not for Narumi. Not today.

Because today was the day that everything changes.... and that is-

"Narumi!! I made eggs and bacon today, come and ea-"

"PAY CHECK DAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!"

The yellow-coloured gust of wind named Narumi Uzumaki sped past Gai without a single glance, bounding towards the door, and the letter-box without so much as a 'good morning'.

Fishing the few envelopes out of the letter box, she quickly leafed through them to bring out the one envelope addressed to her.

With a triumphant grin she opened it and looked at the sum of money which was her payment from her part-time job at Zabuza's Kiri Cafe. She had been working there for nearly two months now, and with the payment money she'd accumulated, today was the day.

"Now I can finally pay back that stupid debt Gai-chichi landed us in! Finally!" Narumi said happily, then rubbed her chin thoughtfully, -_Hmm, but this also means that there's no real reason for me to earn money fast... Should I keep working there anyways?_- she thought.

She and Sasuke had both been working together for 4 or 5 weeks, and though it was annoying at first as Sasuke felt the need to criticize her every move when it came to waitressing (as she seemed to have a lousy time controlling her temper when his fan-girls came in), it was actually a little fun.

Seeing Sasuke in an apron was a big bonus.

Haku was always supportive of her and gave her constructive criticism unlike Sasuke. He was like a big brother to her. Zabuza was a tough boss, but apart from being a little scary he was also fair with her. Suigetsu, while being an irritating guy, was also supportive of her, as in backing her up against the fan-girls of Sasuke.

Everyone she worked with at Kiri cafe were like a family... almost.

She didn't feel like walking out just yet, so she decided, she would continue to work there. A little pocket-change never hurt, right?

"Gai-chichi! I'm going to school!" Narumi began, only to be pulled back with an arm around her neck.

"First eat your breakfast! A youthful school-girl like you needs her nutrition!!" Gai ordered her. Well, that was over in ten minutes, and Narumi again head out to school, dodging Lee as usual.

She was meeting up with Sakura and Sasuke on the way to school today. She just hoped Sakura was keeping up her routine and was being shy-but-slightly-flirtatious like usual, and Sasuke was keeping up his routine of being stand-offish and cool.

If that was the way things were, Narumi knew things would be fine. Seeing Sasuke and Sakura all over each other... it made Narumi's skin crawl in more ways than one. These days, it felt weird.

She was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable with Sakura's presence, which she didn't want at all. Apart from it being plain weird for her to act this way (it's just Sasuke after all!), she didn't want things to change.

But sometimes things are inevitable.

Pausing on her journey to the train-station, Narumi spotted someone that caught her eye. He was standing across the road from her apartment, just staring at it through his thick, expensive-looking aviator glasses, his hands pocketed in his equally expensive looking pockets (and outfit overall). His hair, a vibrant blonde that gleamed like the sun.

-What is that guy doing? ...I thought blonde hair was rare around these parts... Ah well...- Narumi shrugged, thinking nothing of it and went on her way.

A block or two later, she felt rather uncomfortable... like someone was following her. She looked over her shoulder. That blonde guy with the shades again!!

-Crap!! A stalker?!- Narumi widened her eyes, and decided to run for it, as fast as her legs would carry her. Soon, she arrived at the meeting point, where Sasuke and Sakura waited for her.

Narumi bent over, huffing madly for air as the two looked at her strangely.

"What's with you??" Sakura asked, baffled.

"Hahah.. N-nothing...! Just some early-morning exercise...?" Narumi shrugged, grinning. _–Who the hell was that guy anyway? What a creep!-_ she thought.

"Well, whatever, idiot. Let's get going, we've got school." Sasuke shrugged, and the three went on their way to school.

* * *

A couple of blocks back, that 'stalker' wiped a bead of sweat from his fringe and grinned slightly, "Well she's certainly liely. All of that office-work really cuts away from your exercise... phew.." he murmured, leaning against the wall of a building, -_But she's doing well. That's a relief._- he thought to himself.

And with that, he walked away.

* * *

"Order up!! A tuna salad, two coffees and a ham and egg sandwich for table 3." Sasuke said, placing the order on the counter. Narumi picked up the tray and nodded her head.

"Right O'!"

"Heeey, we need a coffee over here too, Sasuke." Suigetsu called to him.

"On it..." Sasuke said with a sigh, heading towards the coffee dispenser.

"Oh, that table needs cleaning. Can you do that after you're done, Suigetsu?" Haku asked.

"Yep."

Hours later, school finished for the day, and Narumi and Sasuke were hard at work for another day at Kiri Cafe.

It was as busy as usual, thanks to Sasuke's fan-base. Most of the school's girls always ended up hanging out after school at Kiri Cafe in hopes of being served by the brooding waiter. While Narumi and Suigetsu found it annoying, Zabuza liked it though. Sasuke became an employee he wouldn't want to let go of with this boom in his cafe's popularity. It was certainly an improvement from before.

Narumi however...

"Nooo, we don't want to be served by _you_, bring out Sasuke-kun!" one of the customer-fan-girls whined.

"Tough luck, he's busy!! What do you want?" Narumi groaned, frowning at the girls. Then, after feeling a cold aura, she straightened up, "Uh, I mean, please may I take your order?" she said, forcing a big smile.

Well... she was improving a little.

Certainly, she was learning.

"Naru!!" Kiba suddenly exclaimed, bounding into the cafe with a big grin. Narumi looked at him curiously as he approached her. "Summer vacation's coming up. Are you free in the 1st week?" he asked her, a subtle blush on his face.

"Eh? Why, what's going on?" she asked, her eyes slanted in confusion.

"Remember the lodge in the mountains that my family owns a share of? My sis and I are going there since our parents are out of town. I was wondering if you wanted to come with?" Kiba asked her.

"Ooh, that sounds cool! What'll we be doing?" Narumi asked.

"Narumi, don't get distracted from your work." Sasuke called over.

"Yeah, yeah!" Narumi waved her hand non-commitingly. A trip to the Inuzuka mountain lodge was more exciting than serving annoying girls.

"Lots of things! Like hiking, maybe a scavenger hunt, fishing, swimming, and many more things." Kiba said, grinning at the interest Narumi was showing. He threw a smirk at Sasuke –he'd get to spend the first two weeks of summer vacation with Narumi and Sasuke would be all _alone_!

Sasuke merely shrugged, and went back to work. Not like it bothered him as much.

-Hmmm...- Narumi thought about it, weighing the pros and cons only for a second, then nodded, "Yeah I'll come - Anything to get away from Gai-chichi for a while! It'll be fun!" Narumi agreed.

"YEAH, sweet! We'll pick you up on Sunday then!" Kiba pumped his fist.

"Okay." Narumi nodded again.

Kiba took this as another change to 'rub it in' at Sasuke, pulling down on the skin under his eye and sticking out his tongue. –_Haha, I win, you lose!_- he jeered mentally.

Sasuke just ignored him. He was used to this immature behaviour for a while now.

It was best to ignore him and just keep working despite the Inuzuka's interruption. Narumi should take a leaf from Sasuke's book on that.

* * *

Later on in the evening, Sasuke returned to his home, the Uchiha complex to find his elder brother on the phone. His voice was stony cold and serious, and his eyes were ragged.

"I've already told you, I'm not coming back. Nothing you say will convince me. Your methods are cruel and unnecessary. I'd had enough a long time ago." He said into the phone and then noticed Sasuke, "Stop calling me." He added, and hung up the phone.

Sasuke only looked at his brother, mildly interested.

His brother was a law and psychology student at Tokyo University, and he usually lived away from home at the on-campus dormitories. But now more often than not he frequently came home, and he had been getting a lot of phone-calls similar to that one.

Sasuke was a little concerned, but he knew his brother could take whatever it was with a pinch of salt. He was a strong person, and his judgement and morals were good.

Nothing could sway his opinion.

It was reasons like this he admired his brother. It was Itachi who had been there for him the most apart from Narumi after their mother died after all.

"Sasuke." Itachi greeted his little brother.

"Itachi..." Sasuke nodded in return, dropping his shoes by the shoe-rack and stepping onto the wooden floors.

"Father is on a business call in Seoul, for the next few weeks. And I will be returning to university tomorrow." Itachi informed him. Sasuke nodded to him.

"Ah." He nodded, "I'll be fine on my own." Sasuke replied.

"Hana-san told me she was taking her little brother to their lodge in the mountains. I asked her to take you with her too, Sasuke. Don't forget. She'll be picking you up on Sunday." Itachi said and Sasuke sighed.

Well... he wasn't bothered. But he was sure Kiba wouldn't like it.

"Okay."

But it wasn't like he could to anything about it. He wondered why Itachi didn't want him left on his own though...

* * *

Sunday morning came around before anyone knew it. And as Sasuke expected, Kiba was anything but happy about it.

"WHAAAT!! What is he coming with us for?!" Kiba asked his sister, pointing at the Uchiha. Sasuke looked at the finger pointing between his eyes with an annoyed frown, and swatted it out of his line-of-sight.

Hana looked over shoulder from the driver's seat and sighed, "I already explained it to you. His brother asked me to look out for him while he took care of some important business, and so he's coming with us. I owed him a favour, so there you go. Stop complaining about it, be a man." She said with a roll of her eyes.

The things she went through because of her little brother's little jealousy.

"Hey but isn't this great? The three of us can hang out this time over the summer holidays! We didn't get to much last time because of Gai-chichi taking me on that training trip with Lee." Narumi said, and leaned forward, "Hana-neechan! Can we put some music on?!" she asked, already hyped about the road-trip to the lodge.

"Okay." Hana nodded, and turned on the radio.

She wondered how this little 'summer camp' would turn out? It sure wouldn't be relaxing...

* * *

**Kin: **Thanks for reading. I hope you'll review too. I don't know when my next update will be but I'll try not to leave it so long again. *bows*


	11. Getaway To The Mountain Lodge

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto/Shippuden, or any of the characters in this story. They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**

* * *

****Chapter 11**

**Getaway To The Mountain Lodge**

* * *

"_ABC tsuzukanai sonna n ja dame ja nai_

_Datte kokoro no oku wa chigau n ja nai_

_Ore no seishun sonna mon ja nai atsuku oku de hatetai yo._

_Kitto kimi ja nakya ya da yo ore wa ikenai taiyou!_"

Sasuke rolled over onto his side, his arms tightly crossed and his eyes firmly shut, as his two friends Narumi and Kiba sang along to the radio obnoxiously. They had been driving for a few hours now, and for those whole two hours he had been trying miserably to fall asleep.

Hana turned down the radio, much to his relief and to Narumi and Kiba's displeasure, and she let out a sigh.

"Come on guys, let's give the music a break already. Poor Sasuke-kun's been trying to sleep this entire time, and to be honest, I have a killer headache!" Hana reasoned.

"Aww man!" Narumi sighed out irritably, crossing her arms, "Stupid Sasuke... its still morning, why is he trying to _sleep_?" she commented.

"_Maybe_ I actually didn't get much sleep last night?" Sasuke offered, rubbing his brow irritably, past trying to actually take a nap. He'd have to find some place nobody could bother him when they got there. Or maybe he could just gag the two idiots – something told him Hana would thank him anyways.

"Eh? Why?" Narumi asked, curious. She smirked, "Nightmares, Sasuke?" she asked teasingly.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "No." He retorted lightly, and sighed, looking out of the window and thus blocking any further teasing he would get from them.

"We're almost at the Lodge anyway guys – check it out! You can see it from across the lake!" Hana added in, and the two that were interested both leaned over to Sasuke's side to take a look. Sasuke twitched.

"You guys are squashing me, get off!" he growled.

"Don't be a spoil sport! Look at it would you? It's beautiful..." Narumi said, staring out across the lake they were passing by.

Across the pristine blue, amongst the lush green of the forest surrounding it, sat the Inuzuka Mountain Lodge. This was the place in which the four of them would be staying at for the next 5 days, all alone looking over such a beautiful lake, basking in nature at its finest. The lodge was even constructed of the same wood of the forest surrounding them.

"Yeah, and? It doesn't look too impressive." Sasuke shrugged.

"I was talking about the scenery." Narumi frowned.

"What was that? It's a damn sight better than anything your family owns, you spoilt rich boy. Not everything needs to be big and high-tech! I'll bet this place beats any of your fancy-schmancy villas in places we've never heard of. Considering the Inuzuka family are small compared to the Uchiha, this is a big achievement for our family, and it's our pride! Take that!" Kiba snapped.

"The Uchiha family doesn't own fancy villas in 'places you haven't heard of', Kiba. My dad never saw the need for something like that since he never takes time off for a vacation anyway." Sasuke sighed.

"..." Kiba bit back whatever he was going to say, considering there wasn't really anything he could say to that.

"Kiba, _try _to get along with Sasuke-kun. These 5 days won't kill you." Hana groaned.

"Who says they won't?" Kiba sighed, sitting back, -It's definitely gonna be no fun around here if Sasuke's always there. I was actually _looking forward to this_.- he thought. If he didn't do something, his plans to get closer to Narumi would all go down the drain.

He had to think of a way that he and Narumi could be split up from Sasuke for a while. Heck maybe he could even confess...?

* * *

Anko Mitarashi sat waiting outside the Dingo Dango restaurant, munching on her take-out dango. Removing the last of the dango from the stick, she aimed, and threw it like a dart, sending it flying into the wooden barricade.

With a bored sigh, she looked to her side and immediately cheered up, seeing the familiar silver-haired man walking towards her.

"Ah, so there you are finally! I was beginning to think you decided to ditch me." She said, hopping up from her sitting position.

Kakashi looked at her, surprised, "Oh, Anko... what're you doing here?" he asked, looking up from his book.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? We were meeting up here today, and..." she paused to look at her watch, "Holy crap, you're actually _early._" She added.

"Eh? I was supposed to meet you?" he asked.

"Yeah? I sent you a text this morning!" Anko sighed impatiently.

"Oh... uh, I lost that phone a few weeks ago." Kakashi admitted unabashedly.

"What! So that's why I couldn't get through with you, you should have told me-" she trailed off, and sighed, "Anyway, I wanted to chat. My charge is really pulling on my last nerve and I needed a break with a familiar face." Anko said tiredly, rubbing her neck sorely.

"Ah, the political candidate, Orochimaru-san?" he asked her.

"Yeah! It's like he's a kid, constantly getting into trouble, it's so annoying! If he keeps doing all this weird crap he does, nobody's gonna be able to cover it up and he'll never get elected! Not that I want that guy running Japan." Anko groaned, running her hand through her messy dark locks.

"Hmm, if I remember correctly, he ran two years ago... and 14 years ago before that too. Both times he failed..." Kakashi noted.

"Yeah. Speaking of which, how's _your_ charge going?" Anko asked him.

"Mm? She's doing fine. She's in Inuzuka's care at the moment, up at their family Lodge in the mountains." Kakashi nodded. Anko looked at him incredulously.

"Any _why_ aren't you with her? You're supposed to be guarding her, Kakashi, it's your _job _after all, and you're getting paid for it!" she questioned him, "What if something happens to her, huh? It'll be very bad for your resume if one of your charges was attacked when you were shirking your duties. Not to mention the impact it'll make, what will... _he_ think if you fail to live up to his request?" she asked him critically, closing in on him.

Kakashi's eyes hardened slightly, but, he pushed a smiling expression to his eyes, "No, I have full confidence in the Inuzuka family, to look after her. It'll be fine, Anko." He insisted calmly.

"You're impossible!" Anko sighed out irritably, "Just remember I warned you! God, I swear, talking to you has just made me more annoyed..." Anko said, making her way down the street away from the silver-haired man.

"See you later..." Kakashi murmured, then sighed, looking to the pavement below him. He leaned against the wall. –_Am I... doing this right, sensei?_- he thought.

He knew that this was an important favour that his old teacher was asking of him. And he had decided to fully devote himself to looking out for that girl for him, especially now.

That underground group... they had been awfully quiet for way too long. They had to be planning something, and it wouldn't be a good thing.

That was for sure.

* * *

Narumi, Kiba, Hana and Sasuke entered the lodge, pulling along their suitcases with them. The lodge was mostly self-run, with a few workers to clean up. Hana guided them to the seating area in the main entrance hall and turned around to face them.

"Okay, guys, first thing's first. We're not the only people staying here – there are a few other Inuzuka family relatives that come to stay here at the summer, and a few non-Inuzuka's have rented a room too. There's one your age here, I think. But the point I'm making is, don't go running around like you own the place, be courteous to the others staying here." Hana explained.

Kiba grunted and put his arms behind his head with a smirk, "But sis', technically since I'm an Inuzuka I do own the place." He said.

Hana proceeded to glare at him and he backed down, suddenly feeling a chill up his spine.

"Right, so now that that's been said and done," Hana said, pulling something out from her bag; they were keys, "These are the keys to your rooms. One for the boys, that's you and Sasuke," she handed one key to Kiba, who groaned in disdain at being stuck with the Uchiha, "And one for us, the girls... I'll keep a hold of it." Hana said, keeping the 2nd key.

"Why can't I take the key?" Narumi asked.

"Because you'll lose it," Hana said bluntly.

"Hey!" Narumi whined, and Hana merely laughed.

"So let's get our stuff put away, and then you're free to wander about until the food is up." Hana said and everyone nodded, heading off to search for their rooms.

"Say, how does your sister know about whose staying here? And how did she get the keys without going to that main-desk thing back in the entrance hall?" Narumi asked Kiba.

"Ah, this place is sis's summer job. She runs it along with our uncle and cousins." Kiba explained.

"Ohhh..." Narumi nodded, "Wonder who this kid our age staying here is..." she added.

"Yeah, me too. Usually, people who aren't from the Inuzuka don't come all the way over here, unless they're invited by us." Kiba agreed, and glanced at Narumi thoughtfully.

Narumi looked over her shoulder to see a patio overlooking the lake. The scenery was breathtaking. She started making her way over there, to get a better view, only to be pulled back by Hana.

"We have to find our rooms first. You can look around later." She said with a laugh.

"Gah, fine." Narumi consented.

* * *

A few minutes passed, and Hana and Narumi were finished unpacking in their room with two single beds, a wardrobe, table, 2 lamps and a small tv. The toilets in this lodge weren't en suite, but there was a toilet and bath just down the hall.

Narumi shoved the last orange top into her draws and closed it, and made her way quickly to the door while looking over to Hana, "Hana, I'm just gonna go to that patio okay? I'm meeting with Kiba and Sasuke there." She said.

Hana quickly spun around, "Just don't wander too far away from the lodge without me! You don't know what's lurking out in yonder forests!" she said in a warning tones.

"Hahaha, don't worry! If there's any bears out there I'll just beat 'em up!" Narumi said confidently. Hana rolled her eyes with a sigh, as Narumi departed.

"That's not what I was talking about..." she murmured, -Wonder why Kakashi-kun asked me to keep on Narumi especially...? That guy's really a mystery...- she thought to herself.

"Ey, Kibaaa!" Narumi called out, spotting Kiba on her way to the patio meet-up point. Kiba paused to let her catch up, then the two carried on together. "Where's Sasuke?" she asked and Kiba sighed.

"That _creature of the night_ went to bed straight away. He's out like a light – didn't even unpack his stuff! It's just you and me for now." Kiba said to Narumi.

"Ahh? The hell? He's acting like Shikamaru, next he'll be staring at clouds and calling everything troublesome!" Narumi complained.

However, Kiba was hardly complaining. In fact, this was his perfect chance, to finally be alone with Narumi, just like he'd originally been planning, before Sasuke made them crash and burn.

He grinned to himself stupidly, -Maybe if this keeps up, and that Sasuke hibernates through the whole holiday, everything'll go according to plan!- he thought, laughing slightly.

"What's so funny?" Narumi asked and Kiba blushed.

"A-Ah nothing! Hey, let's check out the beach too – we can get to it from the patio!" Kiba said, dashing ahead.

"Wait up!" Narumi gasped, "I didn't bring my swimming costume!" she added.

"That's fine, you don't even need to wear it." Kiba teased.

"_PERVERT_!" Narumi yelped and Kiba laughed loudly. Hana watched from back at her door, looking exasperated.

"I told them not to run around like they owned the place... should have known they'd forget." She murmured, ducking back inside, though smiling to herself, -Work hard, little brother. I'm rooting for you.- she thought to herself.

Narumi and Kiba arrived at the patio, and Narumi ran ahead across the sand and pebbles to reach the lake's edge, stopping only to take in the sights around her.

"This place is incredible, Kiba! How long've you guys had this place?" she asked as Kiba walked up behind her.

"My dad and uncle built this when I was 10. Cause they both loved this place, and hung out here all the time. It started off as a tree-house a bit deeper in the forest, and when they grew up they decided to build a lodge here so more people could enjoy a quieter and more peaceful place like this. It's also our usual family reunion venue." Kiba explained.

"Cool..." Narumi nodded.

Kiba hesitantly, stepped closer to her, taking his place at her side to watch the water from the lake wash against the shore.

He glanced at her again, and noticed that this was the first time in a while it had been just him and Narumi, and nobody else with them. He suddenly felt awkward, and squatted down. He looked over the lake, avoiding eye contact with Narumi.

"I came here loads of times since it was made, with my uncle. Me and Akamaru would play on this little beach, and explore the forests... it's really a great place. And I wanted to share it with someone special to me, too." He said, glancing at her briefly.

Narumi grinned, "And that special person's me, right?" she asked him, and he looked away quickly to hide his surprised blush. Narumi took a seat by him on the sand and laughed, "I guess I can understand that, I'm pretty darn special after all, if I do say so myself!" she laughed.

Kiba looked at her incredulously, before sighing out, "Huh, you're special alright..." he muttered.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?" Narumi asked, a bit put off by the sarcasm in his tone.

"Nothin, you're just a bit dense is all..." he murmured.

"Hey you're one to talk." Narumi pouted, "You're pretty slow yourself on a lot of things... but that doesn't matter, right? It's something we've got in common as annoying as it is." She said folding her arms, sighing and nodding 'sagely'.

Kiba hummed, and looked at her thoughtfully, "Huh, so we're the idiot two?" he asked, gazing at her.

"Hehe, I guess so!" Narumi nodded.

"Hmm..." Kiba hummed thoughtfully, and blushed. But his eyes showed a decision had been made. Feeling slightly awkward, at the tension that had built up between the two of them, he turned to her once more, "Say, Narumi, listen... I think I—well uh, we've known each other since forever, right?" he asked her.

"Yeah?" Narumi blinked at him.

"We've been with each other since even before Sasuke appeared, right?" He added, Narumi nodded in agreement. "So.. you trust me more than Sasuke, right? We know each other better, since we've been together longer." He said, quickly.

"Yeah, you're definitely trustworthy! Don't tell him I said this," Narumi smirked, "But Sasuke's kinda sneaky sometimes, huh? Sometimes I can't even tell what he's thinking." She said, glancing from side to side.

Kiba nodded slightly, his cheeks noticeably pink to Narumi now, to which she was curious, "So Sasuke's sneaky... But how do you feel about me?" he asked her.

"What...?" Narumi squinted, tilting her head in confusion.

And then, the sound of a camera taking a picture. Breaking the two of them out of their little moment. They turned to the source of the sound. Only to be very surprised.

"Ah, sorry. Did I ruin the moment?" Sai asked innocently, "It's just that the moment seemed interesting, and I wanted to capture it." he added.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" they both asked him loudly.

"Eh?" Sai blinked, clueless to the reasons for their rage. It was then that Kiba pounced, flooring the poor Newspaper club member.

He merely glowered at the one who had destroyed his chance with Narumi, fire in his eyes, "Bastard! Do you have any idea how much it's gonna take to build up the courage to do that again, do you realise what you've done!" he snapped at Sai, who had no idea what was going on at all.

Narumi watched on, unsure what to make of the situation either.

What was Kiba trying to tell her? Why was he acting so weird and sentimental in the first place, when it totally wasn't like him? And why was he so overly angry at this mystery guy? Did he know him?

"Kiba! Hey, let go of him!" Hana rushed out to join then, and pull her little brother off of the poor guy.

"He's got it coming! With that stupid camera he ruined everything, I was _so close_!" Kiba cried in frustration.

"Regardless," Hana sighed, "This is that guest the same age as you I was talking about. He's taking pictures to help promote this place in order to improve business here. You know we can't fund this place on family members patronage alone, it doesn't make a profit. And besides, I'm pretty sure Sai-kun didn't know he was 'ruining' anything for you!" Hana said.

Kiba turned to Sai, glaring at him still, -Oh he _knew_ alright...- he thought. He just couldn't win. Now not only did he have to deal with Sasuke, but now there was another guy to screw with his chances.

Lady luck certainly wasn't on his side... but he was too stubborn to let that stop him.

He'd have to find another time to say the things he needed to say.

* * *

Soon, the sun was sitting low in the sky. Hana had announced to Narumi and Kiba (who was strangely avoiding her eyes) that dinner was ready to be served. Narumi had volunteered to wake up Sasuke, who still hadn't emerged from his and Kiba's room.

Taking out the key to their room which Kiba had lent to her, she unlocked the door and opened it. She then realised, probably the reason why Sasuke hadn't come out was because the door was locked. Kiba probably did it on purpose to try and get at the Uchiha, Narumi laughed.

-So he's maybe awake...?- she thought entering the room, "Hey Sasuke, you awake?" she asked, then noticing the lights were out. She switched them on, and glanced over to the beds.

And there he was.

Sasuke lay diagonally across his bed on his side, his arms folded slightly, peacefully asleep. Narumi walked over towards him, watching the dark haired boy snooze.

He looked so unusually innocent, to Narumi. She assumed it was the pressure from his father, and Sasuke's need to catch up with his Tokyo-U-student elder brother, had caused him to mature faster than he would have... and had taken away most of his innocence side from his childhood.

It was a shame, she thought, that Sasuke had to grow up so fast. She kinda wanted to know what would've happened if his parents weren't so super strict on him. What would Sasuke be like? Would he naturally smile more often? Would he... Would he have a sense of humour?

Narumi sighed out. She wanted Sasuke to have more fun... she wanted to see him smile more often.

She widened her eyes, and slapped herself lightly on the cheeks to snap herself out of it.

-I came here to tell him dinner was ready! Not stare like an idiot, gah! I'm acting like Sakura would!- she thought to herself, proceeding to hit her head repeatedly to knock the thought from her head.

"...What are you doing?" Sasuke asked her, now awake and looking at her half-sleepily.

Narumi jumped with surprise, "DINNER!" she gasped, and Sasuke blinked, "D-Dinner's ready, so get your ass down to the kitchen. We're not gonna wait for you if you fall back asleep!" she said, and then hurriedly left the room.

Sasuke stared after her.

What the hell was that?

* * *

**Kin: Hi guys, I'm back after a long gap between updating once again, though it's not as long as the time before, thankfully. Let me be honest. I've been really, really selfish. Because I only got 7 or so reviews for the last time I updated, and those reviews being spread out in time between receiving them, I stupidly decided that I wouldn't update until I got more reviews. But then, I realised, that I'd gotten 7 reviews on a chapter before as well, and I kept going anyway. I was so selfish, to not even try to update just because I was a little put out by not getting lots and lots of reviews straight away. I kinda assumed I'd be getting a lot, and when I didn't, I had a huff and didn't try to update again. I should have realised that there are still hundreds of people reading this story, some are reading it over and over again because there are no new chapters up, and I should feel honoured for that! I should be doing my best for all of you, since you all love this story even though I don't update often. So therefore, I'm going to try even harder from now on. Reviews will help me feel more motivated. I hope that you like this chapter and I will try to update sooner next time.**

-Thanks.


	12. The Scavenger Hunt

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does~_

**

* * *

****Chapter 12**

**The Scavenger Hunt**

* * *

Narumi stretched her arms above her head, her body aching from not lying in the wisest of positions the night before, as she, Kiba, Sasuke, Hana and that Sai person walked through the forests surrounding the lake and lodge.

"So-" she cut herself off to yawn, "What're we doing today, Hana? And why did we have to wake up so early if we're just heading out now?" she asked.

"Well, we had to make sure you guys ate breakfast! Today, I've arranged for a bit of fun. You guys know what a 'scavenger hunt' is?" Hana asked.

"Nn, it's where you have to seek out whatever's on the list and whichever team makes it back with everything first is the winner." Kiba nodded, and pointed at Sai, "Now the real question is, what is _this guy_ doing with us?" he added, obviously not liking it.

"Hey, I'm not going to have Sai working the whole time he's here. It's his summer vacation too, so I thought he might like to join in and have a little fun." Hana answered.

Sai smiled thinly, "I thank you for thinking of me..." he nodded. Hana mirrored his nod.

She then took out a few folders and bags, and passed out one each to Sasuke and Kiba. "We're gonna split the two of you into teams of two, and send you off to look for the items on the list in that folder. Make sure you're back by 3 o'clock, whether you've got all the items or not. Whoever gets the most is the winner, not who gets them all." Hana told them.

Kiba quickly grinned. "Teams of two, eh? Then, Naru and I will be a team!" he suggested enthusiastically, grabbing Narumi around the shoulder. She laughed, and in agreement, she swung her arm around Kiba's shoulder too. –_Heh, _finally_! It's about time I got some proper alone time with her._- he thought, glancing down at the blond with a blissful grin.

Hana smirked uneasily, "Sorry, Kiba, but I'm pairing you up with Sai." She sighed.

"WHAT!" Kiba's voice cracked in shock.

"You need to sort out whatever problems are between the two of you, Kiba. Don't worry, you can pair up with Narumi in tomorrow's activity." Hana sighed, glancing at Sasuke and Narumi as they begrudgingly shuffled together (well, Narumi did at least.)

Sai sighed almost silently, glancing warily at Kiba, -_This might not go well if I'm not careful... It might be a good idea to not talk about the newspaper article to him too...after that fight at the sports field._- he nodded to himself.

"Okay, guys, get moving. Go in opposite directions, Kiba and Sai to the left path, and Sasuke and Narumi to the right path! Be back by 3 o'clock sharp!" Hana called.

Kiba looked over his shoulder to his sister, glaring miserably. Hana sighed out and glanced away.

-_If I put them together, they'd just end up goofing off anyway. What was I supposed to do?_- she thought to herself.

* * *

Itachi had no idea what he was doing there. Supposedly, he'd cut all ties with these people, but somehow his old 'partner' had managed to convince him to having a cup of tea in town together. The Uchiha's dark eyes gazed upon the opaque liquid in his cup, before moving up to meet with the cold, ruthless-looking orbs of the man with him.

His dark hair, with a slight blue tint, was spiked, and wild, and his skin was a sickly white. His teeth, visible with his toothy grin, were as sharp as razors, something the man had told Itachi was a tradition in his hometown; to chisel ones teeth until they resembled a shark's.

"Heh," the intimidating-looking thug chuckled slightly, "I knew you couldn't ignore me for too long, Itachi. Think you could reconsider on a couple of other things, while you're at it? Your cooperation would make _him_ very happy, and he'd let you return no problem." He said.

"Like I told Deidara, no thanks. I stand firm by my decision." Itachi shook his head.

Kisame Hoshigaki sighed out tiredly, "...Listen, Itachi," he began, putting his hand forward on the table, "The boss's got something really big planned. Something that could really change the way this country's government works. It's a really solid plan, and I know it'll work. It's what you've always wanted, right? _Change._" He said, smirking.

"I think that the government, as it is, is not doing enough to support its people. They're unfair and negligent, and some families are tired of it." Itachi murmured, his eyes lowering slightly in thought.

Kisame nodded, "Like that health plan of theirs... they did everything they could to cure your mother's condition... or at least that's what they tell the public people?" he prodded.

Itachi's brow furrowed, as he remembered, that day at the hospital; his father's rage; Sasuke's tears.

"Don't you want to get back at them anymore, Itachi?" Kisame drawled.

Itachi took the final sip of his tea, and pushed his stool back, "Thanks for the tea." He said, placing his money for the bill on the table. He turned and began on his way out of the cafe.

"Oh come on, Itachi...!" Kisame stood up, "I assume that's a no then..." he said, frowning.

"It is." Itachi agreed, not turning his gaze back to the older man.

"Then you're our enemy... it's a shame. But hey, a word of advice." Kisame said and Itachi turned his head slightly, "Keep an eye on your little brother's girly... Our plan's already in motion." He said with a smirk.

Itachi didn't say a word, and continued on his way out of the cafe. Sasuke and Narumi... how were they doing up at the lodge?

* * *

Sai followed Kiba, watching his back curiously as the boy stalked through the forest in some sort of silent rage that was bubbling over. The ash haired boy knew it probably wouldn't be the best idea to interact with this Inuzuka at the moment, lest he set off a trigger of some sort and he blew up at him.

But...as it seemed, he didn't need to, and Kiba snapped anyway.

"God damn it...!" Kiba punched a tree, throwing off his built-up frustration, and turned to sigh, slouching against the trunk with a sigh.

Sai decided to try his luck, and crouched down by him, a few metres away just in case, "What is it?" he asked.

Kiba gave him a look, which Sai only blinked at obliviously, "Don't act like this isn't your fault. What on earth were you thinking, butting in to what _might_ have been my only chance at telling her, yesterday!" he groaned.

"Only chance at telling her? Whatever it was, I'm sure you'll have another chance. As for what was going through my head...your sister told me that she wanted pictures of people enjoying the scenery and the lodge's services, for the promotion of Inuzuka Lodge. You and Uzumaki seemed to fit the bill." Sai explained the best he could.

He paused, thinking for a while, "Uhm... someone important to me, they said that I have a habit of not picking up on subtler things like feelings and other people's opinions... I'm still rather inexperienced when it comes to that, so I'm sorry if I-"

"Yeah, whatever, man! Just...you're forgiven, I guess... Even if I'm still annoyed at you." Kiba sighed out harshly, and looked at the scavenger hunt list thoughtfully. "I was... trying to tell her that I like her." He said and Sai nodded.

"Um... 'Like' her...because she's a good friend of hers, right? Hmm.. I've been wondering, what it's like to 'like' someone." Sai mused. He felt like he was getting somewhere. The brunette had cooled off considerably, and he was even sharing some of his 'feelings' with Sai.

He couldn't let this opportunity go to waste – maybe he could make a 'friend'?

Kiba blushed, and shook his head angrily, "No, no, not like that! I mean, _yeah_, she's my best friend...she has been since we were only kids! But... ugh, not really. Not anymore. It's different, these days." He said, sighing out.

"How so?" Sai asked, confused.

"...love 'er." Sai tilted his head as Kiba mumbled, almost completely inaudible.

"What?" Sai asked, not understanding.

Kiba snapped, "I _love_ 'er, _okay_? Just shut up already, its embarrassing! An' you're the last person I want to talk about it to." He sighed out, covering his cherry-coloured face with his hands.

Sai widened his eyes, and fished out a small pocket-dictionary from his bag, flipping through the pages quickly. Kiba peeked out from behind his fingers, wondering why the guy carried a dictionary with him...

"Hmm... 'Love'; _a strong positive emotion of regard and affection; any object of warm affection or devotion... also, a deep feeling of sexual desire and attraction_... Ehh, so that's what it is?" Sai asked, seeming very interested. He then looked at Kiba questioningly, who had by now removed his hands from his face in disbelief.

Kiba flushed, "Hey shut up! Stop staring! And why the hell do you carry something like that around with you – it's pretty obvious what 'love' is!" he sputtered, embarrassed.

"But I've never really experienced anything like that myself, as of yet... Tell me...how does it feel? And why her of all people?" Sai asked.

"Are you serious?" Kiba stared at him, and Sai shrugged, "Well, I guess, who'd fall in love with a weirdo who carries a dictionary around with him anyway...you got a point." Kiba sighed; he softened, "Naru is... she's not like most girls you know? She doesn't like dresses, she doesn't obsess over what she eats, and we can hang out and chat without feeling awkward or anything. Well, it used to not be awkward, before I started liking her." He murmured.

"So basically, it's because she lacks femininity?" Sai blinked, lightly baffled.

Kiba chucked a small rock at him in retaliation, "Shut up! Don't talk about Naru like you know her, jerk!" he barked.

"Oh...Right." Sai blinked surprised.

"Agh, sorry. I'm just annoyed, cause my stupid sister's out to make my holiday miserable too now...And I can't stop thinking about, like, what are Sasuke and Naru up to, _alone_ together? Pisses me off..." Kiba sighed out.

Sai tentatively moved over, and patted his shoulder, "I'm sure nothing's happened. He doesn't like any of the girls in the school, so I'm pretty sure he's gay." Sai pointed out, and Kiba looked at him astounded.

And then, he burst out laughing, "Hahahaha, you're not so bad, Kai!" he guffawed, holding his stomach with one hand, and Sai's shoulder with the other.

Sai smiled, "Actually it's Sai." He said, but went ignored over Kiba's obnoxious laughter.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Tokyo, at the Sabaku family's apartment, Temari returned with the mail, looking as though she had a mission on mind. Kankuro looked up from the fridge to his older sister, "Oh hey, sis', we're out of milk!" he called.

"Get it yourself – the convenience store is just down the street!" Temari quickly said, and Kankuro blinked at her.

She'd bypassed him entirely, and headed to Gaara's and his room. What was going on?

Temari swung open the door to find Gaara sitting on his bed, his earphones in. Noticing her, he switched off the IPOD and glanced at her curiously.

Temari showed him an opened letter, looking expectant; "I got this in the mail, Gaara, it was addressed to you. A letter of _threat_. And the way it's written, it's like it's not the first one this person's sent. Are you in some kind of trouble?" Temari asked, looking genuinely worried.

From the doorway, Kankuro watched on as Gaara refused to answer, taking the letter from her hands. His little brother had been known for drawing in bad people, ending up in fights because of his intimidating looks and seemingly confrontational nature.

So this was nothing new...but it always freaked out their sister anyway.

"It's nothing, Temari. It's just some more punks looking for a fight. I'll ignore them, like usual." Gaara said, glancing over the sender's name. His eyes narrowed; it was _him_ again.

He pulled himself up from his bed, tucking the letter into his pocket, "I'm heading out." He muttered. Temari quickly grabbed Gaara's arm.

"Now just hold on a second, Gaara! You think I'm stupid enough to let you go anywhere, knowing about this? You're gonna meet up with that person aren't you?" Temari said, not liking the look of things.

Kankuro blocked the exits to their room, "I agree with sis', this sounds bad. We'll just call the police and they'll find the guys and sort them out. You're not a superhero or a ninja or something! You're just a kid." He said.

Gaara gazed at his siblings, obviously, he still wanted to go. Who knows what those guys might do, if he just kept ignoring them for much longer... they'd probably come to the apartment, and then Temari and Kankuro would be involved.

He frowned.

But it looked like he was cornered for the moment. He'd have to find a time when he could sneak out and confront the senders.

* * *

Narumi bent down by a tree, and with a grin, plucked a toadstool from the ground. Turning to Sasuke with the toadstool up in the air, she grinned.

"Hey, I found a toadstool – that's another one down!" she said.

"Good for you, Narumi... but we already got that one ten minutes ago." Sasuke nodded, and Narumi sighed. She stomped over to the dark haired boy.

"Then what do we need to get, now?" she asked him.

Sasuke eyed the list, "Some moss... by the looks of it. As well as some water, a rock with a smiley-face drawn on it, a crayon and a dog biscuit." He answered.

"Those last two are a bit random. Where are we gonna find those in a forest?" Narumi squinted, confused.

"They're probably to throw us off." Sasuke shrugged.

Narumi hummed, looking around. Ahead of them, it looked light there was a hole of some sort, it looked like a bigger version of a badger's den. Curious, she skipped a few steps to check it out from closer up.

"What is this thing?" she asked, crouching down and having a look inside, "Looks like there's a tunnel or a cave or something inside." He said. Sasuke knelt down beside her, and picked at the rocks.

"Well, we found some moss." He said, scraping some off with his fingers and popping it into the bag.

"Oh yeah." Narumi nodded, blinking. She spotted something, and got out her cellphone, opening it up and using it as a flashlight into the hole. Now slightly illuminated, she spotted a red stick. "Oh! Hey there's a crayon in there!" Narumi gasped.

"Huh?" Sasuke had a look down the hole too, "Hn. I guess it wasn't to throw us off track after all..." he muttered, and glanced at his watch, "But we've got half an hour to get back to the lodge for 3'. We'd better leave it at that – she said we didn't need to get them all and I'm tired of this." He said.

"Don't be stupid! We can get this one, then when we get back we can sneak a dog biscuit out of the kitchen, I saw them in there, and we can also get some water out of the tap too. Then we'll have them all! Easy!" Narumi said, manoeuvring herself into the hole head-first.

"_You,_ don't be stupid! Get back out here, Narumi, you don't know if there's a drop in there! You'll get stuck." Sasuke said, exasperated.

"It'll be fine, there isn't a drop. It's just a tunnel!" Narumi insisted.

Sasuke sighed, "We don't have time for this!" he told her, reaching in to grab her foot. If he had to drag her back because of her competitive nature, he would. Sure, he was competitive too, and didn't feel like losing to dog-breath and that newspaper club guy, but he also wasn't stupid.

"Gah!" he heard her cry echo from inside the tunnel and her feet disappeared from sight. Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Narumi!" he yelled out, getting lower on the ground to look in the hole. He got out his cellphone to light up the inky darkness of the tunnel, "What happened?" he called, hoping the idiot hadn't knocked herself out or something.

"Er... There was a drop!" Narumi hesitantly called back and Sasuke resisted slapping his forehead and saying 'I told you so'. "But I'm okay!" she added after a pause.

Sasuke sighed out, annoyed, "Hang on!" he called, his irritation reflected in his tone. He glanced around, trying to find something he could pull her out with. He didn't want to leave her alone in there either... "I'm gonna call Kiba!" he said. He could use some help and he was sure Kiba would definitely help, Narumi being involved.

He selected Kiba's number, and put the phone to his ear, waiting for an answer. It rang several times, but to Sasuke's dismay, proceeded to his answering machine. He probably left it back at the room.

The Uchiha looked around for a while a bit longer, then down the hole again.

"Hey, what's going on? Is Kiba coming?" Narumi's voice echoed up the hole. Sasuke ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Get out of the way of the hole if you can, Narumi!" he called back down, and hoisted his legs down the hole first, making his way down.

He'd have to rescue the careless idiot himself. He just hoped the hole wasn't too deep.

* * *

"Hey sis' we're back!" Kiba called, re-entering the lodge with Sai at around 3:15; "Sorry we're a bit late. Did the others get back already?" he asked.

Hana looked up, "No, you guys are the first back." She said, shaking her head; "They'll probably be back soon though. How many did you guys manage to find?" she asked, taking their bag from them to have a look.

"We couldn't find the crayon – what kind of item is that to find in a forest? Sai had some oil pastels though, so they're close enough right?" Kiba answered, and got out his phone. "Aw damn it! Out of batteries!" he groaned.

"You should've packed your charger, moron," Hana sighed, and scrubbed her brother's head playfully, to which he frowned.

Sai glanced back outside. Why did he have a bad feeling in the pit of his chest?

* * *

**Kin: Hey guys, I'm really sorry it's taken so long to update this story, yet again. For one, Naruto isn't an anime I'm that into at the moment, it's been ages since I watched the show or read the manga... but I still really want to complete this story. This time, I've set it up so that I definitely have something to continue on from after this chapter, and I have at least 3 chapters worth of action planned. I don't know when my next update will be, but I'm not gonna stop writing this story. You guys deserve for this story to actually keep going and actually be completed. Thanks for the lovely reviews, and for being so patient!**

**On a side note, I noticed people are really liking KibaNaru parts...I just did it for the heck of it at first, but I too have fallen in love with it ^^ I might make it _the_ end pairing, but we'll see how things turn out!**

**Thanks so much for reading, and for sticking with me.**

**Let me know what you think of these developments, in this chapter with Gaara, and Itachi. ^^**


	13. Gaara VS Deidara!

**Disclaimer **_I don't own Naruto. It is the creation of Masashi Kishimoto!_

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Gaara Versus Deidara**

* * *

In a local park, the sun sat low in the sky. A blonde leant against a children's jungle gym, fiddling with a lump of clay, folding the layers back into a wing shape. He then proceeded to add another small lump to it, forging it into a shape of a bird's head.

From his pocket, he heard the ringtone of his cellphone, and he fished it out, putting it to his ear, "Yeah?" he answered, and paused while listening to the caller, "He still hasn't showed up at the meeting point, but there's still time...hm. With the letter we sent, there's no way he wouldn't show up. 'Cares about his siblings too much." He explained, and listened again.

His sharp blue eyes slid over to watch the park's entrance again as he hummed, "_Yeah_, I know what I'm doing. Don't hurt 'im too badly, just knock him out and bring him back. What do you take me for? Tobi?" he asked, snorting. He spotted Gaara enter the park grounds, hands pocketed and expression sullen and serious. He smirked, "I gotta go." He said, hanging up his cellphone.

'_Doesn't mean I can't have fun with this... hm,_' the blonde told himself.

He pushed himself off of the jungle gym and headed towards Gaara.

"So you're not a wuss after all, hm. You finally did as you were told." He said to Gaara, who didn't respond. "Now why don't you continue to do as you're told, and come quietly with me? See, your cooperation will make our plan a lot easier to achieve. And if you're extra-obedient, we won't have to get your brother and sister involved either, hm." He said.

"You're not going to lay a finger on them." Gaara said icily.

"Oh really..." the blonde responded, not fazed by the boy's statement.

"Well, I'm here now. So... Who are you? And what do you want with me?" Gaara probed, folding his arms.

"Straight to the point, just how I like it. hm. You don't _need_ to know who _I_ am. But _we_ are the Akatsuki group. We're what you might call 'freedom fighters', and our goal is to rid the world of its corruption, so it can become a peaceful, war-free Eutopia. And in order to attain that kind of world, we've decided we'll need the support of the selfish people, who have more power, money and influence than they need." The blonde explained, and smirked, "Your father is the CEO of KAZE Industries, is he not? And you are his heir, despite being the youngest child; he must hold you in high regard. I wonder if _he'd_ volunteer as a benefactor if he knew we had his precious heir in our possession?" he said.

"My father would not crumble to any of your threats so easily. You're wasting your time with KAZE." Gaara told him.

"Oh, we think we have the means to persuade him. You on the other hand... you won't come quietly, will you." The blond said.

Gaara narrowed his eyes, "I won't." He said, removing his hands from his pockets, readying himself in a battle stance.

With that, the blonde dashed towards him, a fist raised, "Perfect! They said using force was fine, as long as I didn't kill you, hm!" he said, throwing a punch directly towards Gaara's nose. Reacting quickly, Gaara dashed to the side and threw a kick.

The blond raised his elbow to block the kick from reaching the side of his head.

"I'll beat you down here. Then, you'll leave my family alone and go back under whatever rock you crawled out from." Gaara said calmly.

"Give it your best shot. Let's get creative!" he smirked sadistically.

* * *

Sasuke sat in the claustrophobic darkness of the tunnel, looking down at the blond leaning against his shoulder, drooling onto his sleeve. Completely unaware of her surroundings, or their situation, she slumbered, without a care in the world. She had clasped within her hand, the red crayon that had gotten them into this mess in the first place, along with Narumi's competitive nature.

And then, with an unintelligible mutter, she rolled over slightly, flinging her arm around to rest on it, nailing the Uchiha in the stomach.

"Gah!" Sasuke flinched, and frowned sourly at Narumi. He sighed, and flipped open his cellphone again. No bars. There was no chance of him getting a call out down this hole. Things could be getting really bad, really quickly.

He sighed out tiredly, and cautiously moved Narumi into a position that was more comfortable. He couldn't believe she'd actually fallen asleep! Amazing timing - what an idiot...

But he had to admit, he liked this quiet, calm Narumi. If only she could be like this sometimes while conscious as well.

Gazing at her in the barely illuminated cavern, he reached out, and brushed a strand of hair from her eyelids.

"Idiot." He grunted out, a ghost of a smile on his lips. '_I hope someone figures out we're missing soon. We're just lucky it hasn't started raining yet..._' Sasuke thought, gazing up the hole they'd fallen through.

Kiba glanced up to look through the kitchen window anxiously for what must have been the fortieth time, Hana guessed as she rolled her eyes at her little brother. She paused in chopping the leeks to slapped his back.

"Hey, quit slacking off – you're supposed to be preparing the pork!" she barked at him, to which he yelped.

"Well how do you expect me to be able to _concentrate_? Naru and Sasuke still haven't come back from the Scavenger Hunt and it's already dark. What if something happened to them!" Kiba snapped back, scowling.

"I'm sure Sasuke's protecting Narumi well enough. He's a man. It's his job and he'll know that. They're probably lost, but I'm sure they'll find their way back, or a phone-box at least." Hana tried to soothe.

"But Hana, didn't Uncle say there used to be bears in these woods?" Kiba pointed out, wide eyed.

"Uncle says a lot of things..." Hana sighed, rubbing her temple in exasperation.

"And besides, Blondie's so manly she could probably fight off a bear anyway." Sai chimed in from is position preparing the eggs. Kiba threw a quick glare at Sai, wordlessly telling him to shut up.

Hana sighed out, and placed her knife down.

"Alright, fine. Let's cover these ingredients up, and head out to search for them." She said.

"YES! Hana, you rock!" Kiba cheered, punching the air in victory. Hana sighed, smiling slightly.

"Sai, can you go grab the flashlights, and the big duffel bag from the storage room? Meet us at the lobby!" Hana said, and left with Kiba on her tail. Sai nodded to them, and set off to search for the storage room.

"We should've brought Akamaru; he knows Naru's scent off by heart!" Kiba exclaimed.

Minutes later, they set off, to search for their missing friends. Twenty minutes later, they were still searching. Kiba walked around, looking from left to right anxiously. He gathered up some air to call out again.

"NARU! Naru, can you hear me! HEY!" he called out.

Hana ran a hand through her brown locks, frowning worriedly; "This isn't good – where could they be? Though it's been hours and they could've wandered really far..." she murmured.

Sai hummed thoughtfully, guiding his flashlight around in a searching fashion; "Perhaps we're not the best team for the job. Should we call the search and rescue forces?" he asked, fishing through his pockets for his cellphone.

Kiba turned around defiantly, shining his flashlight towards Sai and Hana, "No way! I'm gonna find Naru, and we don't need the police's help!" he refused.

"Kiba, think this through. They're not answering you so maybe they're hurt, or unconscious? They might need medical help, or be trapped. And all we have is some rope. We should call for help." Hana told her brother.

Kiba flinched, and thought for a moment furiously. He then spun around and set off again, calling out again.

"Sasuke you bastard, answer me! Where are you guys? You'd better be looking after Naru!" Kiba called.

"Kiba..." Hana began with a sigh.

"Shut up... dog breath... down 'ere." A faint voice grumbled, surprising the three.

Sai blinked, "Was that Uchiha?" he asked. Hana gasped, and ran over towards a small hole beneath a fallen tree, getting down on her knees. She shone her flashlight down the hole.

"Sasuke? Narumi! Are you two _down_ there?" she asked disbelievingly; '_Where did this hole come from?_' she wondered. Kiba ran over to join his sister.

"Narumi!" he called.

"She's asleep! C'mon, wake up Narumi..." Sasuke called up from within the cavern, then muttered to the girl on his lap, shaking her awake. She groaned crankily, slowly rising from her slumber.

"t's too early to get up... stupid Gai-chichi..." Narumi grumbled, rubbing her eyes. She glanced up to see what the warm surface she had been sleeping on was...whatever it was, was a hundred times better than her own pillow.

Her gaze met with the dark irises of Sasuke's eyes, his face illuminated from Hana's flashlight. With a surprise yelp, she threw herself back from him, only to slam her head against the wall of the cavern behind her. "Agh!" she yelped.

Sasuke tsked, "Hurry up and climb up you idiot. Hana and the others are here to get us out of here." He told Narumi, who blinked.

"I have a rope! I'm throwing it down to you guys, so catch!" Hana called down to them and Sasuke called back an affirmative. With that, one end of the rope came tumbling down, and Sasuke grabbed it. He passed it to Narumi.

Still feeling a little embarrassed, at having fallen asleep on her friend, and her cheeks annoyingly hot, Narumi grabbed the rope and manoeuvred her way up the hole. Sasuke, behind her, placed his hands on her hips, helping her climb upwards.

"Y-Y... You don't need to do that, Sasuke! Get your hands off my ass!" Narumi yelped, uncomfortable.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Kiba's voice yelled down the hole, "Sasuke, you—"

"Shut up and help me pull, stupid!" Hana cut in, shutting her brother up. Sasuke sighed out irritably.

"The faster we get you out of here, the better. Quiet complaining about things I wasn't even doing." He grunted up at her, switching his hand position from her hips, to her feet. With a final push, the rest was up to Hana and Kiba. After Sai joined in on the efforts, both Narumi and Sasuke were successfully rescued from the hole.

Sasuke sighed out, stretching his limbs and gazing up at the evening skies; "How long were we missing?" he asked, glancing back down to Hana, who was next to Kiba and Narumi. Kiba was checking over Narumi for any bumps or scratches, which there obviously were a lot of from the tumble she'd taken.

Sai glanced over from his position looking down the hole with the flashlight interestedly, "Well, it's a little after 7 o'clock now. The scavenger hunt ended four hours ago." He answered.

"We were preparing dinner, but Kiba wanted to search for you guys. Why don't we head back now, and finish that off. You must be starving! We're having stir-fry," Hana said, getting up.

"Oh, yeah! I'm so hungry I think I might pass out!" Narumi agreed, getting up.

Everyone nodded, and made their way back to the Inuzuka Lodge together for a long-awaited late-night dinner.

* * *

Gaara and the blonde 'Akatsuki' member had been fist-fighting for roughly twenty minutes, and Gaara was even now, cool and calm. Evading another punch, he quickly retaliated with a blow of his own, delivering it to the blonde's ribs.

With a grunt, the blonde stumbled backwards, '_He didn't say anything about how good the kid's self-defence skills were...this ain't fun at all, hm._' He groaned. He sighed, and glanced to his pockets, '_Guess I'll play dirty then._' He decided, and reached into the pocket, pulling out a bunch of small pellets.

Gaara watched as the blonde then grabbed the bandanna tied around his neck, raising it and securing it over his mouth and nose. He then threw something to the ground before them, and smoke erupted from out of nowhere. Gaara widened his eyes, covering his mouth slightly.

Caught off guard, he breathed in a little of the fumes, which was his mistake.

"What...sleeping gas?" Gaara breathed, feeling himself slipping.

He felt a sharp pain to the back of his neck, and with a gasp, he toppled over, to be caught. His vision faded, as he felt himself slipping from consciousness.

"What're you doing here? I was handling myself just fine, hm!" the blonde's voice echoed in his ears.

"You were taking too long... And you were attracting too much attention, Deidara." Another voice, calm and cold, said reprimanding.

Gaara groaned, involuntarily letting his eyes slide shut.

'_Temari... Kankurou..._' he thought, fading away into the black abyss of sleep.

* * *

"Checkmate." Shikamaru said, mid-yawn, as he moved his Shogi piece forward, and Chouji groaned out.

"What? Man! You're way too good at this. We should play something else..." Chouji said thoughtfully. Shikamaru shook his head in disagreement.

"Nah, let's call it a night Chouji. I'm beeaaat...!" Shikamaru yawned again loudly. He stretched his arms above his head tiredly, as Chouji glanced at the digital clock next to Shikamaru's bed. The time '22:23' flashed on the monitor.

"Yeah... it's pretty late." He agreed.

A ringtone came, grabbing Chouji's attention. He looked over at his friend, "That's your phone, bud." He told the Nara, who blinked in realisation. He reached over to grab his phone off the bed, and looked at the caller ID.

"It's Temari..." he noted, and opened the phone with a sigh, "Do you have any idea what time it is...?" he asked his girlfriend, only to trail off at the sound of her repressed sob. His eyes widened, "Temari, what's the matter?" he asked.

Trying not to sound as distressed as she was, and sound stronger, Temari simply replied, "Gaara's missing."

* * *

**Kin: **Even though the chapter was called 'Gaara versus Deidara' there wasn't really much of the fight included. My reasosn for that are quite simple: I SUCK at writing fight sequences. Mostly because what I write comes from my imagination, and my imagination only daydreams fluff these days since 98% of what I read these days is fluff-related. :/

I'm really sorry it was another long wait for this chapter you guys. I wasn't into Naruto anymore for the longest time, but I decided to catch up on the epic ninja wars that're going on in the manga lately, and I felt inspired to update again.

I want to say the next chapter will be soon, but I don't want to promise it . Who knows when my Naruto-inspiration mode will shut off again...

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER. Please review, let me know you haven't totally given up on me. -_-;;


	14. Kakashi's Intervention!

**Disclaimer: _I don't own Naruto, it's property of Masashi Kishimoto._**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**Kakashi's Intervention**

* * *

Temari Sabaku wordlessly unfolded and then closed the small fan over and over again, her eyes not looking at the swirling patterns adoring the fan, but gazing through absently. At her side, her boyfriend Shikamaru Nara watched her with slightly irritated, but sympathetic eyes, as he leant against the structural beams of the marketplace stall.

After watching the girl repeat the same open-and-close process for a few moments, he sighed, and gently placed his hand over hers.

"Hey," he tried carefully, "I know you're still thinking about where he could be, Temari. But I brought you out today in order to get your mind off it, not to have you dwell on it even more." He told her softly.

At this, the blond snapped, whipping her hands away and looking to him frustratedly.

"How can you expect me to act like it's not bothering me? I'm his older sister, someone for him to _look up to _for support! Even though he seems so mature, and independent, he's still my baby brother. And still, I couldn't stop him. Now we don't even know where he is! He could be…" she snapped, and then sighed out. Shikamaru stepped away, caught off guard by her flare of temper.

Her eyes wavered, and she clenched her fists to her sides; "As soon as I found out he'd been getting those letters of threat, I felt like such a fool. How could I have allowed Gaara to take this on, all on his own? Why did he think he couldn't let us help him? We're his siblings – we're supposed to confide our problems to each other, and share the struggles together. But he—" Temari sucked in a frustrated breath, and drew it out, hanging her head.

Shikamaru observed her lightly trembling form, and then sighed out. He placed his hands gently on her shoulders, and met with her dark green eyes.

"Come on Temari, look at yourself… getting so upset isn't like you… I'm not about to pretend I know Gaara well enough to know what he was thinking, but something tells me that he didn't do it just to brush off your good will. He probably thought what he was doing was in your best interest; maybe the people sending the letters were dangerous, and he didn't want to risk getting you hurt. They may have threatened to do so, so it could be that he just panicked and went in alone." Shikamaru said, and Temari's expression became irritated and conflicted.

Shikamaru paused, and then continued, "I can somewhat understand that part. I would have done the same thing, if it's that those guys threatened to hurt you… I would have wanted to make sure they stayed away from you too. Because you're important to me…" he said, and sighed, blushing at his words, rubbing his head.

Temari stared at him, slightly surprised. Though they'd been dating for a little while now, she found it surprising to hear him say such sappy things. She knew it always seemed annoying to say such silly things, but when it counted, it seemed he wasn't averse to doing so.

Shikamaru hummed, "Which leads to the reason why I brought you out today. Like I said, you're so worried about Gaara that you aren't yourself. I wanted to take your mind off of it; to cheer you up." He said, and patted her arm, "So come on. Anywhere you want to go?" he asked her, holding out a hand for her to take.

Temari gazed at her boyfriend thoughtfully, before letting a small smile come out. She took his hand in her own, and his fingers curled around hers.

"Well, I hear there's a good horror film on at the cinema at the moment…" she said in suggestion.

"Why a horror film…?" Shikamaru frowned slightly.

Temari smirked, "Are you _scared_, Shikamaru?" she asked him teasingly.

Shikamaru snorted, "Humph! No, it's just that they're all the same lately. Horror films are such a drag…" he responded.

"I knew it! You are scared." She laughed, and propped her free hand on her hip, "If they don't bother you, you'd come to see it with me. After all, today you were supposed to be cheering me up, right? I want to see the film." She said.

Shikamaru gave her 'the' look, before sighing and conceding.

They began on their way towards the cinema, but on the way, they ran into a face that was familiar to Shikamaru. And at noticing the man, and being noticed in return, Shikamaru sighed out.

"Man, even on the summer break I can't escape from you teachers." Shikamaru said, gazing up to Kakashi, who smiled back at him.

"Shikamaru, I assume you're already done with your summer homework, to be out and about like this. With….could this be a girlfriend, Shikamaru?" Kakashi asked him.

"Mm, yeah. This is Temari Sabaku, she goes to Suna Academy. Temari, this is Kakashi Hatake-sensei, he's one of my teachers." He told Temari.

"Hi." Temari nodded, not really caring secretly.

"A pleasure to meet you." Kakashi smiled down at her, before letting his expression become serious, "Not to pry, but I spotted the two of you earlier. It sounded like something was bothering your girlfriend; I heard something about a missing sibling? Are the authorities handling it well?" he asked the two.

Temari glared up at the older man, "What business is it of you! Stay out of it." she said to him, folding her arms and gazing up at him threateningly. Kakashi only gazed back down at her, unfazed.

-_If one of her siblings is missing…it's either Kankurou Sabaku or Gaara Sabaku. I hope it's not the latter…it could spell for trouble.-_ Kakashi thought to himself.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck with discomfort for the situation, "Listen, no offence, sensei…but Temari's right. Why the curiosities, when it doesn't even involve you?" he asked.

At this, Kakashi raised his hands in mock-surrender in a laid-back manner, "Easy… I don't mean to intrude on personal affairs. But seeing it earlier, you seemed to be blaming yourself for his disappearance. And I agree with Shikamaru, what your brother did was likely to protect you—"

"He didn't need to do that for us!" Temari snapped, and Kakashi kept quiet. Temari hung her head, "Why the hell did he—It's like he doesn't trust us! Lately, he's always been like this, and this time it might've really gotten him into trouble… And we have no idea where he could be now…or if he's even alive!"

Shikamaru moved to put his hands on her shoulders, "Temari, come on… don't even imagine that kind of thing. Gaara's tough, and really responsible considering his age. I'm sure he's fine." He said.

"Shikamaru…" Temari sighed out.

Kakashi nodded in agreement, "Wherever he is, Temari, the police will find him. And they'll deal with the people who took him." He told her confidently. Temari gazed at him uncertainly, before hesitantly nodding. What could she say to that? She already knew that their father had hired special search teams to look for KAZE's heir. Though, she'd never had much faith in the police… she had to trust them this time.

Shikamaru sighed out, before smiling a little. Temari seemed to have settled down, at least a little bit.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei." He nodded to his teacher, and patted Temari's shoulder.

"Nn… Thanks for your words." She mumbled.

At this, Kakashi smiled at them, "Alright then. You were heading to the cinema weren't you? Enjoy your film, and make sure that homework I set is all done!" he said, and turned on his way.

Shikamaru watched him go, -_What a drag…something tells me he just wanted to look cool._- he thought, before heading off with Temari once again.

Turning a corner, his pace quick, Kakashi's expression was again hard and stoic; -_They're started moving after all…that can't be good news at all. I'd better start being a bit more hands-on with my job._- he thought to himself.

* * *

Soon, Kakashi was in his car, well on his way down the motorway going towards Inuzuka Inn… The journey there took a good 4 hours, so it would be late afternoon before he arrived. He hoped nothing had happened so far but also doubted they would strike twice with such a short interval between them.

Shikamaru and Temari had thought it weird when he'd acted so interested in Gaara's abduction, but it was all in aid of finalizing his suspicions. Suspicions he'd hoped to be proven wrong, but it looked like it was true…

It wasn't just KAZE's heir that had gone missing. Kakashi had heard on the news that the famous rap artist Killer Bee had been targeted a few times already, though not successfully taken thanks to his bodyguards, and he'd heard the rumour that the son of the genius scientist, Yagura had disappeared from his home months ago.

So _that group_ already had at least two hostages; the heir to one of the largest trading companies in Wind Country, and possibly, the son of a high level authority in science and medicine.

What could they possibly be planning?

Kakashi wanted to make sure that even if they started collecting the kids of more authority figures, they definitely wouldn't be getting his captain's kid. Although currently, he was posing as a humble Geography teacher, in truth, it was merely a cover-up as a means to keep a close eye on Narumi Uzumaki, the daughter of his captain, from his time in the Fire Country Armed Forces (FCAF).*

'_I might not always be there to watch over her, as much as I want to be… in times such as those, Kakashi-kun, I ask that you'll make sure that she's safe.'_

Kakashi sighed out, ruffling his silver hair slightly. He reached for the radio and switched it on, adjusting the channel. His mind was swimming, so it was time he cleared it. He was going to have to approach this calmly, and he had to be the one in control.

* * *

At his destination, the Inuzuka Lodge, Narumi was frowning impatiently, as she sat on the pier with Kiba, Sai and Sasuke. The majority of them held fishing poles in their hands, their lures bobbing in the water. Sasuke sighed tiredly.

"We've been at this for hours, Kiba, are you sure there are fish in this lake?" he asked the Inuzuka.

"Of course I'm sure! Where do you think we got the fish we ate last night?" Kiba huffed.

"Well _I_ haven't got any bites." Narumi sulked, and pulled back her lure, "Forget it, forget it! This is too boring!" she whined, and turned to crawl over to where Sai was seated, art supplies around him, and a sketchbook in hand. He seemed to be engrossed in whatever it was he was drawing.

"What's that you're drawing, Sai?" she asked curiously, poking her head over the pale boy's shoulders. Sai looked at her, blinking.

"Nnn. Oh this? It's nothing." He said, glancing down to the swirls of colour developing on his page, "I was just thinking and this is the result." He murmured.

"Ahh, so it's like abstract or something? I don't really get that arty stuff, but the colours are cool." Narumi hummed, looking at the picture closely; "Have a title for it?"

"A title? …I've never thought of that." Sai realised.

"Well think of it now! Every picture needs a title…hmm, and since you said it just came to you while thinking, maybe you should call it like.. uhh, 'A look into Sai's black hole mind'! What d'ya think?" Narumi asked, smirking mischievously. 'Black hole' fit this guy's mind way too well. Narumi wasn't sure if Sai ever thought at all.

Sai smiled at Narumi, "Oh, really. I would have thought it described your mind far more accurately, rather than mine. After all, you never seem to think before you talk." He noted, and Narumi froze, her cheeks red.

'_Is this guy a mind reader or something?_' she thought as Sasuke hid a smirk behind her back.

Suddenly there was a splashing noise behind Narumi's, Sasuke's and Sai's back. They turned to see Kiba laughing and pulling on the reel excitedly.

"I told you there were fish in this lake you non-believers! Haha, come on help me reel in this bad boy!" Kiba howled with excitement. Narumi gasped, and rushed over to help out Kiba. It looked like it was gonna be a big one. Tonight's dinner was gonna be awesome!

Hana's voice was heard in the distance, "Hey guys come on, it's nearly lunch'! And we've got another guest as well!" she called to the group on the pier.

"Comin' Sis'!" Kiba agreed.

* * *

His presence was certainly a surprise to his students. Kakashi wasn't sure if the awestruck looks on their faces meant they were happy to see them or if they were simply lost for words. Never the less, he gave them a smile, and a light wave.

"Yo, Kiba-kun, Sasuke-kun, Narumi-kun… ah, and I believe you're also a student at Konoha High-school." He greeted the four.

"Ah, it's Sai, sir. I'm in class 1-A." he replied, and Kakashi nodded.

Narumi snapped out of her stupor long enough to point at Kakashi and yell, "W-What the hell are you doing here Kakashi-sensei?" in accusation.

"Are teachers not allowed to enjoy their vacations, Narumi? I came to get some well deserved rest and relaxation at this fine lodge." Kakashi responded calmly.

"While that's true, this here lodge belongs to the Inuzuka family. Its invitation only, and I don't remember inviting a _teacher_." Kiba said, frowning in disapproval.

"Yes, well, I have permission to be here. Your sister invited me." Kakashi glanced at Hana, who shrugged, and nodded.

'_More like you invited yourself…but you had your reasons, I can tell._' She thought to herself.

"But…! But…!" Kiba stuttered, and turned to his sister, "Sis'!" he looked desperate.

"Quit complaining, Kiba! Kakashi-kun's a friend of mine, so he can stay if he wants to! Learn to like it, or just forget about it. Not everything can be _your_ way." Hana shook her head at him.

Kiba pouted irritably, '_Seems nothing ever goes my way. Though…Sensei's presence doesn't really bother me that much… Hn, whatever!_' Kiba snorted and looked away.

"Well, now that that matter's settled, I hope you guys have all done the homework I set you guys. Since you seem so at-ease!" Kakashi smiled. He watched as two of the four teenagers froze, and donned cold sweats. He decided to continue, "If you hadn't even started… I can't begin to imagine the punishments that would be in store for you guys." He added, and inwardly chuckled at Kiba and Narumi's turmoil.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his teacher, '_He's getting a kick out of this as usual,_' he thought, and smirked at his friends.

Hana clapped her hands to clear the tension, "Anyway, Kakashi and I have a thing or two to catch up on. And you four, I'm sure, have more activities planned for the day. So, let's move out!" she said, and everyone nodded hesitantly.

While the four teenagers cleared off to another part of the lodge's grounds, Hana and Kakashi moved to the collection of sofas in the main hall. Taking a seat opposite Kakashi, Hana gazed at him.

"So, care to give a full explanation this time, Kakashi-kun? All you told me on the phone was 'I need to keep my eye on the kid after all'. Come on, don't keep me in the dark, here. We're friends, are we not?" she asked him.

"While that's true, you know that details concerning my 'other job' are usually confidential. I'll tell you this, though. Narumi's not just a high-school girl with a loud-mouth. She's my captain's kid, and I made a promise to him that I'd make sure she was safe. There's an underground group mobilizing, and they're targeting the kids of big figureheads as ransom for a source of income to their ambitious goals. I fear that Narumi might be the next target because of my captain's position." Kakashi told Hana with a sigh.

"What does this group plan to do with those kids.? Who are they?" Hana asked, frowning.

"Who knows what they're thinking? They're not exactly opening announcing themselves. All we know is their organisation's name; Akatsuki." Kakashi said.

"I see…so Narumi might be in trouble…" Hana sighed, concerned.

"I ask that you keep this a secret for the rest of this week. But, when the new school term starts, I plan to take her protection into my own hands. It's not that I don't trust the guy, but she'll be moving out of Gai's place, and into mine. I can't take any chances where she'll be out of my site." Kakashi explained.

"Sounds serious…alright Kakashi-kun," Hana nodded in agreement.

Around the corner in the hallways of the lodge, Sasuke looked over his shoulder, his brows furrowed and a frown firmly planted on his face. He gaze the two adults one final look before taking off down the hall.

'_What the hell is going on…? Akatsuki… where have I heard that name…_' he thought, his frown growing. He came to spot Narumi, Kiba and Sai. '_Whoever they are…I won't let them touch her._' He decided, and made his way towards the others.

* * *

Three days later, Sasuke was not the only one to know about Kakashi's plans for Narumi. And Narumi was not pleased, to say the least.

"WHAAAAT! Why the hell do I have to move in with you, Kakashi-sensei!" Narumi yelled, outraged.

"Oh? You'd rather continue staying with Maito Gai?" Kakashi asked her, and Narumi froze…the prospect of living with Kakashi certainly sounded a lot less insane than living with Gai… Even though she'd grown somewhat accustomed to it over the years.

She frowned, her eyes squinted, "What're you planning?" she asked him carefully. She didn't know a lot about Konoha High-school's new sensei…he was more mysterious than Sasuke and Sai in that way. How did she know she could trust this guy not to pull a fast one on her?

"Hmmm? Oh, nothing big." Kakashi smiled mysteriously. Narumi flinched. For some reason, she felt it was certainly something big alright.

"Anyway, it's already been decided between Gai and I. Your things are already in the spare room in my place." Kakashi added, heading towards his small blue car.

Narumi let her jaw drop, "D-Don't I even get a say in this!" she cried.

"Nope, now get your things in the boot. Your friends will be travelling with Kiba-kun's sister, but you'll be going home with me. Come on," Kakashi waved her over, lifting the boot door open.

Narumi sighed out miserably…what had she done to deserve this?

* * *

**Kin:** Sorry for the longer-than-a-month wait, you guys. Too many deadlines in college near killed me. *sighs* So this ended up taking forever to write. Oh well. I thought it was time I revealed a whole bunch of things about Kakashi's reasons for becoming a teacher, and a bit on the things Anko had been talking about with him. I hope that the update was worth the wait. I hope I didn't ruin Temari's character, but hey, I have a little brother who's too independant for his own good too, so I just wrote what I thought I'd feel as well.

Please review! I love you guys. :)


	15. The Last Day of Summer Break!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo, Viz, etc.**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

**The Last Day of Summer Break!**

**(Alt. Living With Kakashi-Sensei!)**

* * *

The door opened and Kakashi gestured for Narumi to step inside his apartment, carrying a few of her luggage bags under his arm. Hesitant, Narumi stepped inside, looking around curiously. It was a first for her, going to a sensei's house. Well, Gai didn't count. She'd been with him since as far back as she could remember, so she'd never counted his place as a 'sensei's house', but rather 'her house with a weird guy living there'.

But recently, Kakashi Hatake, her geography teacher had showed up with the surprising turn of events that she'd no longer be bunking with Gai, but living at his place instead.

Kakashi came inside as well, and closed the door lightly, "Ah, watch out for the dogs. They're not used to others besides me, but they're friendly enough if you don't act like you're scared of them." He said, and Narumi was surprised to see a group of dogs of all shapes and sizes coming out from various rooms, to great their returning master. There must've been like eight of them!

"WHY ARE THERE SO MANY? This is only like, a small apartment!" Narumi yelped at Kakashi.

"I get lonely. Dogs are fine companions." Kakashi said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Narumi just looked at him weirdly, and sighed.

Narumi hesitated a bit, and then slowly reached out to pat the head of one of the dogs. The dog propped his ears back and growled a little at her, and she flinched.

Kakashi chuckled, and took Narumi's hand, placing it back on the dog's head; "Like I said, don't show your fear. Never would have pegged you for being scared of dogs, Narumi." He said.

Narumi twitched, "I-I'm not scared of 'em!" she insisted, and turned to look at the dog anxiously. Experimentally, she patted his head several times, before grinning slightly, "See? We're fine," she added, as the dog eyed her evenly, before 'shrugging' and wandering off.

"Well, then in that case, play nice." Kakashi said, and made his way past the girl and his dogs. He walked towards a door near the end of the hallway, and pointed to it, "This is where I'll be putting your bags; it'll be your room while you stay here." He said.

Narumi glanced to him quickly, "Ah, yeah, thank you." She said, and rushed over to join him. As she did, she looked around the apartment, glancing over at the messy kitchen area. There were papers all over the table, as well as a few books, which Narumi assumed were for work, the kitchen work-top was slightly cluttered, and the sink had a pile of unwashed dishes…exactly how Narumi pictured an older single guy's apartment to look like.

Kakashi saw her eying the messy kitchen, "Mm, it's kind of a mess right now, huh? I've been busy marking summer work from my classes this break, between coming to see you, and other things. I'll get to it eventually…I guess." He shrugged, and Narumi looked at him.

He opened to the door to Narumi's new room, and took her stuff inside. Narumi followed him. The room was simply decorated. Light blue walls, grey curtains; it had a bed, a table, bookcase and closet. There were a few framed pictures on the shelves, but apart from that, there wasn't much to the room.

"This used to be a college house-mate's room before he moved in with his girlfriend. He wouldn't mind that you're using it now." Kakashi said, placing her luggage bags on the bed and sighing, "Well, you can make yourself at home, Narumi. This is where you'll be staying 'till high-school finishes." He said to the blond girl.

_This is too weird_…. Narumi thought, frowning confusedly.

"But that's what I don't get!" she told the silver-haired sensei, "Why did you see the need to move me out of Gai-chichi's place in the first place? Not that I'm mad for leaving there, that guy can be pretty nuts sometimes but still…" Narumi trailed off.

Kakashi nodded in understanding, "It was pretty sudden, huh." He said and Narumi nodded; "I have my reasons. Let's say it's a favour for an old friend, that I finally decided to make good on." He said mysteriously, eye-smiling.

Narumi stared at him through squinted eyes; she had no clue what he was going on about.

..But she supposed it if was a favour to a friend, she could understand that part. So Kakashi-sensei had friends too….she'd have never guessed it since he was so weird.

"We'll have to think about dinner soon…but I don't feel like clearing the sink. Guess its take-out again tonight." Kakashi mumbled.

Narumi rolled her eyes. How did this guy survive living on his own?

* * *

The next morning, after a late-night take-out pizza the night before, Narumi felt like she couldn't breathe. Frowning uncomfortably under the huge weight pinning her to her bed, she wriggled a bit. She slowly opened her blue eyes to look at the unfamiliar ceiling above her, before wearily glancing down to what had her pinned to the bed. A large dark brown bulldog snoozed peacefully on her belly. Accompanying him were the dog with the Mohawk, and the small grizzly-looking white dog.

Whining, she wriggled some more, calling out, "Kakashi-senseiiiii, your dogs are in here again! They're turning me into a human pancake-ttebayo!" she cried.

After a few moments, she realised nobody was responding to her calls for help. She groaned.

"Stop reading your damn porn and _help me_!" he added, losing her temper a bit.

At this, Kakashi looked into the room calmly, "Actually, this is fine literature, Narumi-kun," he pointed out happily, and noticed the roster of dogs lying on Narumi's guest bed. He laughed a little, "Haha, it looks like they were quick to accept you after all. I'm surprised, those three usually aren't so friendly to newcomers." He said.

Narumi thrashed in her 'bindings', "I don't care if they've accepted me or not, I am not a mattress! Please, get them off'a me already! It's the last day of summer break and I promised to meet up with Hinata-chan! We're gonna see a movie!" she said.

Kakashi sighed, and reluctantly closed his orange book, slipping it in his pocket, "Very well," he agreed, and went over to help his charge.

Narumi sighed out deeply at being relieved of the great weight on her stomach, literally, and sat up on her bed.

_You might be wondering what the hell I'm doing in what seems to be Kakashi-sensei's apartment, being used as cushion to his dumb pack of dogs. It started a couple of days ago, on the last day of my stay at the Inuzuka Inn…_

_Like, out of nowhere, Kakashi-sensei, my geography teacher, shows up and tells me I'm moving in with him! He wouldn't even tell me _why_ I was moving in with him. Stupid, suspicious-looking, sneaky, secretive sensei…._

"Oh by the way, Narumi-kun…if you're going out to hang out with your friends, I assume you've done that assignment I set for you before break started?" Kakashi asked, and Narumi froze, "The 20 page project on the country of your choice? I believe you were paired with Sakura-kun for it…yet I haven't seen you with her since school let out." He said.

A cold sweat ran down her forehead, and she laughed nervously, "Th-that's cause we did it before we broke up!" she told the silver-haired man.

Kakashi looked astounded, "All in one evening?" he asked, surprised.

"YEAH! Heheh…he.. It was a breeze!" Narumi nodded, rubbing her head anxiously. She got up, grabbing her cellphone, rushing by him and heading out the front door, "I've gotta make a call!" she cried as she went.

"A call that she needs to make outside?" Kakashi watched her amusedly, '_I knew it. She hasn't even started the project. I bet her partner is pretty annoyed with her for going away without doing it…_' he thought to himself, before opening his book again to read.

Outside the apartment, Narumi dialled in Sakura's number, and braced herself for the impending response.

"H-Hello Sakura-chan…" Narumi mumbled hesitantly.

"Narumi…" Sakura's voice was even, but there was a definite hint of anger in her voice; "I trust you had a good time with Kiba and _Sasuke_-_kun_ this summer?" she said, stressing Sasuke's name. Narumi laughed, her laughter uneasy and frightened.

"I-It was fun…but um, hey…we had a project for Kakashi-sensei's class…didn't we?" she asked her pink-haired friend. After a pregnant silence, Narumi hurriedly continued, "I-I'm sorry Sakura-chan, I like totally forgot about it! I didn't mean to! It's just that when Kiba told me about the trip to his family's lodge it slipped my mind, and….and…Are you mad at me…?" Narumi asked her.

"_Mad_? No, no, Narumi, of course I'm not mad at you!" Sakura laughed on the other side of the line. Narumi eyed the phone suspiciously.

"You're… not?" she asked.

"Nope! After all, Narumi, you're gonna have all the notes for the presentation ready for tomorrow, right?" she asked with a voice that was _too_ cheerful.

"EH! I have to have all the notes ready for tomorrow! But Sa-Sakura-chan!" Narumi gasped, horrified at the concept.

"NO 'BUT'S!" Sakura snapped, surprising Narumi; "It's bad enough that you left me hanging to go off frolicking at a private lodge, having fun with Sasuke-kun without me! But you also left me with all the work, you idiot! You should be thankful I did half the work, so at least do your part! I don't care how you do it – just get it done, or so help me Narumi…!" Sakura yelled, and Narumi held the phone away from her ear.

"Okay, okay, I'll do it! You don't have to be so mean, Sakura-chan!" Narumi cried, seeing the abuse to her eardrums as unnecessary.

"You better!" Sakura snorted, as if it was the obvious answer to give, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow at school! You can tell me about what you did at Kiba's place there." She said, and gave a farewell before ending the call.

Narumi gave a dejected sigh, slouching over the railings of the apartment's balcony. _Today's gonna be a nightmare….what do I tell Hinata-chan? She's gonna be disappointed that I cancelled on her again._

She stayed in her slouched position for a while, staring at her orange cellphone. When it suddenly rang, she was caught off guard and nearly dropped it. She looked at the caller ID, and saw it was Hinata.

With a sigh, Narumi decided she should get it out of the way and let Hinata know.

"Hey, Hinata-chan…." Narumi sighed out.

"Eh? …N-Narumi-chan you sound sad….what's wrong?" Hinata asked.

"Hinataaaaa…you're gonna hate me for this!" Narumi groaned to her friend.

"I-I'd never hate you, Narumi-chan…! Why, though? D-Did something come up? It's okay if you can't come – I-I can give the tickets to Neji-niisan and Tenten-senpai." Hinata replied quickly.

"Yeah, something came up.. I totally forgot about our summer project from Kakashi-sensei, so Sakura-chan's really mad at me for dumping it on her. I have to prepare the entire presentation by myself for tomorrow! It totally sucks! We won't be able to see that movie, after all." Narumi explained to her.

"Th-the entire presentation? That sounds like a lot to ask for in one evening. Are you sure you can do it…?" Hinata asked.

"I'm gonna _have_ to! Or Sakura-chan…and my new 'carer', will kill me…did I tell you that I had to move in with Kakashi-sensei?" Narumi replied.

"You didn't! Th-that's kind of weird, why did you have to move in with sensei? Is he a friend of the family? I have seen him with Gai-sensei before…" Hinata asked.

"Beats me – I have no idea! …Well, I'm gonna go over to Sakura-chan's place now, to get the notes she made for the presentation. I've gotta go." Narumi said, sounding miserable already.

Hinata paused for a moment, before nervously speaking up, "I-If you'd like…you can still come to my house. I can help you with the presentation. My partner and I have already finished ours." She said. Narumi's mood sprang up at this.

"Really!"

"Y-Yes…what're friends for?"

"Oh, Hinata-chan, I could kiss you!"

"E-EHH!"

"You're a life-saver, thank you! I'll be over in an hour!" Narumi said with a wide grin, and went to grab her things to head out. She made her way quickly over to Sakura's place to pick up the notes, and then took the next train to the area where Hinata's house was. She was greeted upon entry by her friend's slightly intimidating little sister Hanabi and was taken to her room, where Mrs Hyuuga served them juice and biscuits as they worked on Narumi and Sakura's project together. In the end, they managed to finish the project by 7:30pm and Narumi was very enthusiastic about her thanks as she left that evening.

* * *

When she returned to Kakashi's apartment later on, around 9pm, she found her sensei already asleep, having nodded off while marking papers. The dogs were littered around the apartment, and Narumi had to sneak over them quietly, pausing at the door to her room to glance back at the silver-haired man.

"G'night, Kakashi-sensei…" she murmured, before entering her room. She wandered over to her bed and put her bag down beside it, and glanced around the room lit by the street-lights and the moon in the sky outside. Her eyes were caught by the picture frames on the bookcase, glinting in the light.

Curious, she wandered over to the bookcase and took one of the picture frames off of it to look it over. She immediately held back a snort, spotting a little boy with silver hair and a dull expression in his eyes. Was…was this _her_ sensei? So he still wore the sick-mask even as a child? She couldn't believe it.

She glanced over the other three in the photo. There was a girl with shoulder-length reddish-brown hair, and brown eyes, who held a kind smile. There was also a guy who had a face like Sasuke's, but his dark hair was spikey and punk like. He was semi-glaring in an annoyed fashion at the younger Kakashi. And behind the three of them, grinning through the glass frame of the picture holder, was a tall, kind looking man with spikey blond hair and blue eyes.

The guy looked a little familiar…where had Narumi seen him before?

After a few moments of thought…it hit her! That stalker guy! She remembered!

About a week and a half before summer break started, she had been on her way to the train-station, to meet with Sasuke and Sakura when she spotted that guy! She thought back to the time…

_He was standing across the road from her apartment, just staring at it through his thick, expensive-looking aviator glasses, his hands pocketed in his equally expensive looking pockets (and outfit overall). His hair, a vibrant blonde that gleamed like the sun._

_-What is that guy doing? ...I thought blonde hair was rare around these parts... Ah well...- Narumi shrugged, thinking nothing of it and went on her way._

_A block or two later, she felt rather uncomfortable... like someone was following her. She looked over her shoulder. That blonde guy with the shades again!_

_-Crap! A stalker?- Narumi widened her eyes, and decided to run for it, as fast as her legs would carry her. Soon, she arrived at the meeting point, where Sasuke and Sakura waited for her._

_Narumi bent over, huffing madly for air as the two looked at her strangely._

_"What's with you?" Sakura asked, baffled._

_"Hahah.. N-nothing...! Just some early-morning exercise...?" Narumi shrugged, grinning. __–Who the hell was that guy anyway? What a creep!-__ she thought._

_"Well, whatever, idiot. Let's get going, we've got school." Sasuke shrugged, and the three went on their way to school._

Narumi stared suspiciously at the photo frame in her hands, her eyes glued to the blonde in the picture. Who on earth was this guy, and what interest did he have in her anyway? And now, she was stuck wondering what kind of link the 'stalker guy' had to her sensei.

With a groan, she put the frame back in its place and decided to go to bed. She wondered if she'd even get to sleep at all, with these new questions whirling around in her head. She doubted if she asked Kakashi even, that he'd actually tell her what was going on.

After all, he wouldn't even tell her the reason for her moving in with him. Why would this question be any different?

* * *

The next day, Narumi proudly stashed away her project into her bag, redressed in her uniform once again for another term. She made her way to the kitchen, and paused, spying its state and remembering how much of a mess it was. She sighed out miserably. She'd have to hurry to buy some breakfast on the way to school; there was no way there was anything edible in _this_ kitchen.

"Narumi-kun!" Narumi quickly turned in time to catch an apple thrown by Kakashi. She looked at him in surprise. He eye-smiled, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away. You heading off to walk with your friends now?" he asked her.

"Yeah, thanks!" Narumi gestured to the apple, "I'm gonna have to leave right away if I want to catch up with Sakura. We're meeting up with Sasuke and Shikamaru after that! Don't be late for school yourself, sensei!" she said with a slight snicker.

"Yeah, yeah. Enjoy yourself," Kakashi said easily as Narumi made her way out the door.

On the way to school, Narumi was scared to see Sakura again, especially after what happened yesterday over the phone, but surprisingly, the pink-haired girl was calm about it. She said she had envisioned it the moment she was assigned to be partners with Narumi, to the blonde's dismay. She did however, praise Narumi on getting it all done, and advised her to thank Hinata again for her help today at school. Which Narumi readily agreed to – she owed Hinata big-time after all.

But when the two girls met up with the boys Sasuke and Shikamaru, the extra fatigued look to Shikamaru was apparent.

"Hey, Shika, what's the matter? We're just out of summer break, you should've got plenty of rest then, but you look _beat_!" Narumi looked at him curiously, and feeling slightly concerned. Since when did the infamous sleepy head _skip out_ on sleep? There were bags under his eyes!

"Mm, summer break has been anything but relaxing. I've had my hands full dealing with Temari's worries – her brother was kidnapped by some really shifty sounding guys. Have you heard on the news, about that group, yet?" Shikamaru asked the three.

"You mean the reports about the attacks on that rapper by a group called Akatsuki? I hear they're also rumoured to be linked to the disappearance to Yagura Kiri, the famous scientist's son." Sakura nodded, sounding interested.

"But what does that have to do with that Gaara kid?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows at Shikamaru.

"I thought you of all people would know, Sasuke," Shikamaru said and Sasuke frowned, "Temari, Gaara and Kankurou, they're all the kids of the CEO of KAZE industries from Wind Country, but Gaara's the heir to the company. Gaara's more than meets the eye, especially since he doesn't act the part of a rich heir. Temari doesn't act like much of a lady either…" he muttered the final part discreetly.

Narumi was astounded, "Oh wow, I would've never guessed Gaara was that cool! But he's been kidnapped? That's _bad_!" Narumi gasped.

"How is Temari-san holding up?" Sakura asked Shikamaru.

"She puts up a strong front, so it looks like she's doing fine on the outside. But what others don't know about her nightly calls to me; she's really very worried about all of this. As such, I've become a pillar of support to her, keeping her strong. It's like a 24 hour job, it's kinda troublesome, but…I guess I don't mind doing it if it's for Temari." Shikamaru sighed.

Sakura smiled, "That's surprisingly sweet of you…no matter how you worded it." she said to him.

"Hmm…but it does mean that today is going to be such a drag. I was almost considering giving it a skip to catch up on lost hours of sleep." He nodded.

"You can't do that! It's our first day back!" Sakura said.

"Meh."

"So, Narumi, Sasuke-kun, how was the Inuzuka Lodge? Was it fun?" Sakura turned to the other two, and started another conversation. Narumi quickly launched into her retelling of the holidays' adventures, Sasuke only giving brief contributions while mostly keeping out of it. The group arrived at school after a while, and entered through the gates, into another long school term. Little did they know, some surprising changes, and trouble, were waiting for them in the coming months.

* * *

**Kin:** Well there you have it! Another new chapter!

You know, I was really disappointed with the amount of reviews I got last time. Only _**two**_ reviews. So, this time, I'm going to openly thank those two that actually bothered to give a few words! Thank you, **MelissaKS**! Thank you, **angelvan105**! I really appreciate it. If it weren't for you, I'd have been really depressed about the lack of response, and this chapter wouldn't have been started, even. It's all thanks to you, so this chapter is dedicated to you two!

I hope you enjoyed it!


	16. A New Term and Suspicious Substitutes!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, it's copyrighted to Masashi Kishimoto and any other copyright holders.

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**A New Term & Suspicious Substitutes**

* * *

Since Narumi had moved out, Maito Gai couldn't shift the sensation of being alone. It was a little sad to think about. He'd raised that youthful girl ever since she was a child of 3, in place of his eternal rival Kakashi, whose work had suddenly gotten a lot more demanding. Originally, Kakashi had taken care of Narumi when she was a baby, along with an old college friend. Gai wondered what happened to Obito…there were rumours he'd enrolled in police force school but nothing was affirmed as of yet.

It had been tough at first, as Gai had no idea how to raise a child. Some worried if he could do it all, and thought Kakashi could have chosen someone a bit more responsible, but Gai sure showed them!

He'd raised her to be confident, cheerful and to never give up. It was one of his biggest prides, apart from his student Lee!

Now that she was living with Kakashi again, the apartment felt noticeably empty and quiet. Gai had decided to busy himself with his daily workout.

"A hundred and fifty… a hundred and fifty-one… a hundred and fifty-two… a hun—" he paused in his stomach crunches at the sound of a knock on the door, '_I wonder who that could be…_' he thought to himself, getting up and wiping the sweat from his brow with a towel.

Throwing the towel over his shoulder, he strode towards the door and opened it to come face to face with a rather bizarre yet intimidating looking fellow. It was Kisame Hoshigaki. He was dressed in a postal service uniform.

He gave a forced polite-smile, "Hello, is this the home of Miss Narumi Uzumaki?" he asked Gai.

Gai peered up at the monster-of-a-ma suspiciously, "She's not living here anymore…and what do _you_ want with Narumi-kun?" he asked accusingly, clenching his fist discreetly.

"Not living here anymore…" Kisame muttered, lightly surprised, "I have a rather large package for her in my truck, which she ordered. Can you tell me her new address?" he asked Gai, getting out a notebook and pen, '_I'll have to inform the boss about this…_'

"Hmm…" Gai hummed, "You can hand that over to me. No matter how large the package, I will deliver it to her myself. It's my youthful duty as one of her guardians!" Gai said, giving the man a thumbs up and a shining smile that would have made dentists proud. _He looks a bit too shifty to be working for the postal service…something doesn't sit right with this guy._

Kisame's eyes narrowed, "That won't be necessary. Just tell me where she lives." He said gruffly to Gai.

Gai laughed confidently, "I shall never hand over that kind of information, it simply wouldn't be youthful to do so! Now, on the other hand, a blazing hot battle for the prize sounds far more appealing. Let's duke it out!" he said, raising his fists in a battle stance.

Kisame smirked at this, "Beating the information out of you? I think I like that idea." He said, and the two exchanged their opening blows.

* * *

"And _that _is how I got these youthful battle scars! If only you had been there to witness it, Lee-kun! In the end, I was too much for him and he took off!" Gai told Lee, who looked at him burning with excitement.

"So cool! Gai-sensei, I knew you were truly amazing, but this serves to make you even more youthful! And it was so admirable for you to protect Narumi-kun like that!" Lee cried.

"Thank you, Lee-kun! Haha, But it was a good fight, he was rather formidable. Too bad I didn't catch his name…." he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully with his free hand. The other hand was in a sling, and he had padding on his cheek to stop the swelling from a particularly hard blow he received.

"Do not worry, Gai-sensei, I am sure you'll have another opportunity to exchange blows with him some day!" Lee said.

"You're right! Look out, whatever-your-name-is! Next time, I, Maito Gai, will thrash you once again! This time, you won't land a blow on me, or I'll run 100 laps around the school race tracks!" he said.

"Yes! I will also!" Lee agreed.

It was then that Kakashi placed a hand on Gai's shoulder, and the green-clad man turned to the mask-wearing man.

"Gai…I think we need to talk." He said with a sigh.

Gai nodded, getting serious, "Maybe you can tell me why that man wanted to know Narumi-kun's address." He said, and Kakashi nodded in consent. Gai turned and gave Lee a smile, "Lee-kun, you should head to your 1st class now! Don't want to be late!" he said, and Lee saluted.

"Yes, sensei!" and with that he took off down the hallways.

Kakashi looked at Gai apologetically, "I'm sorry you had to get involved like this. It's the last thing I wanted." He said.

"Think nothing of it! I couldn't stand by while a precious student is potentially in danger!" Gai shook his head. "Now tell me…why are members of Akatsuki heading after Narumi-kun of all people? They all wear that red cloud insignia on a tag necklace. I got a glance of it during my combat with the man."

"I'll tell you all about it, in the staff-room." The two of them headed to the staff room to discuss things.

* * *

Meanwhile Narumi, Sasuke, Sakura and Shikamaru had all met with Kiba in the halls and arrived at their classroom for the first class of the term; History, with Kurenai-sensei. They all took their respective seats…or they would have, had a certain someone not had something to say about Sakura arriving in the same group as Sasuke.

Ino Yamanaka looked at her with borderline-furious eyes, though really, she was just incredibly jealous. She marched towards her with a mission to find out what was going on.

"What the hell, Sakura? All of a sudden you're a part of Sasuke-kun's group! Why is that? I can't get near them without an excuse…or just being pushed away!" she said, "_That's not fair._" She thought to herself.

Sakura sighed, having seen this coming as soon as Ino found out.

"Well… you know I used to be friends with Narumi. We decided to stop fighting like babies and resumed our friendship. Sasuke-kun has nothing to do with this….though it is a bonus." She said with a naughty smile after a pause.

Ino growled, "Not fair! Why should you get special treatment…just because you're a friend of a friend?" she said, pouting slightly and folding her arms.

"You know, Ino, you could do the same. Aren't you friends with Shikamaru-kun, through your dads? You could reaffirm your friendships too." Sakura suggested, '_Though I like it the way it is right now, really! It's one big advantage I've got against Ino-Pig, Shannarou!_' Inner-Sakura was kicking herself for helping out 'the enemy'.

Ino stepped back, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, with a look of disdain in her eyes, "Be friends with that lazy bum? Ugh, doesn't seem very appealing…"

"Well that's the best idea I have for you, Ino-chan. Just think about what I said." Sakura shrugged, and Ino sighed.

"Whatever…fine! I'll think about it." she said, glancing at Shikamaru, before sighing again and looking away. It was then that the door to the classroom opened, and everyone was expecting their history teacher Kurenai Yuhi. Only to be greeted by Shizune, the school nurse/secretary.

"Alright, everyone to your seats! Kurenai-san is away on maternity leave this term," Shizune began, causing a conversation about Kurenai's pregnancy to burst out, before she cleared her throat and continued, "_So,_ I'm here to introduce her substitute." She said, motioning for the person to come in.

At this, in walked a young woman with blue hair, pale skin and striking amber eyes. She wore a flower hair ornament in her hair, and wore a navy blue blazer over a flower print shirt with a pencil-skirt and some heels. She looked over the class silently…before resting her gaze on Narumi a moment, then returning her gaze to Shizune.

Shizune gestured to the woman, "This is Konan Wakeshima. She comes to us straight from finishing up a teaching course at Tokyo U, fully trained and eager to start her career here as Kurenai-san's substitute, to gain experience. Please, treat her with the same respect you would for Kurenai-san." Shizune said, and the class chorused out a 'yes Shizune-sensei' in response.

At this, Shizune nodded to Konan, whispering a good-natured 'good luck' to her before bowing and leaving the classroom.

Konan watched her leave, and then ran her eyes over her students for a moment once again. Once again, her gaze rested on Narumi.

She walked to the front centre of the class, towards the chalk board.

"Alright, we shall begin. I've been informed you were studying the WW2 battles at Iwo Jima when you last left off before the summer break. We'll start with that." She said. At his spot at the back of the classroom, Sasuke narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

* * *

Later, break time came and the gang all gathered at their usual meeting spot, beneath the cherry tree which was now dormant, its spring blooming period having long passed by. Among Narumi's group were Sasuke, Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji and Tenten. And now, the latest new two of the group, Sakura and Sai had joined them. Though Kiba wasn't so sure he approved of Sai's presence in the group. But he wasn't really causing any trouble yet; he was just sitting against the tree, scribbling in a sketchbook silently.

As soon as they'd convened together, Narumi had instantly walked to Hinata and surprised her through hugging her tightly. She'd blushed redder than a tomato.

"N-N-Narumi-chan, what is…!" she stammered in surprise. Neji too had a look of confusion on his face.

"Thanks for all the help you gave me with mine and Sakura-chan's project the other day! Thanks to you our presentation went over really well!" she said with a wide grin.

"E-eh is that so…?" Hinata asked, letting out a quiet sigh of relief as Narumi let go of her.

Sakura smiled at her in approval, "It was really good. If we'd have just left it to Narumi it would've been all over the place, and who knows what would have happened. You really helped out! Thanks, Hinata-san." She said with a nod.

Hinata felt her shyness increase and she twiddled her thumbs demurely, "I-It was nothing. I'm glad I was able to help…" she said quietly.

"What was that?" Narumi blinked at her and Hinata only blushed deeper, avoiding eye contact.

"She's glad she could help out," Sakura repeated for Hinata, who nodded.

"Anyways, what did everyone do over the break? Neji-kun and I went to see 'The Legend of Princess Gale' at the cinema, courtesy of Hinata-chan. Thank you for the tickets by the way, the film was really good. Right, Neji-kun?" she said, nudging Neji, and bowing her head in thanks to Hinata.

Neji rolled his eyes, "It was a bit too cliché. The fight scenes were more to show off the Princess's appearance and clothing than actual ability. And the choreography was given minimal eff-oof!" he flinched as Tenten elbowed him in the stomach. He glared at her lightly, and she glared back at him.

He sighed, "Thank you, Hinata-sama…for giving us the tickets. We enjoyed it." he said resignedly. At this, Tenten smirked in victory.

"You need to stop overanalysing things, and enjoy things for what they're meant to be." She told him, and he rolled his pale eyes.

Hinata smiled nervously, "I'm glad you enjoyed it. Maybe next time, I'll get to see it as well." She said.

"Yeah, and this time I'll go with you! Sorry I had to cancel this time." Narumi added, and Hinata nodded with a smile.

"I'd like that." She responded, and Narumi grinned.

"So what did everybody else do?" she asked, turning to the others.

"Nothing of interest…besides what you already known," Shikamaru shrugged, in response.

"My family had a barbeque party. You went to that. The food was great, huh?" Chouji input, and Shikamaru nodded, remembering. "We didn't really do anything exciting. Summer break can be for relaxation too." He added.

"A barbeque party? Man, I can't believe I missed that!" Narumi whined.

"I'll invite you to the next one," Chouji offered, and Narumi cheered. Kiba jumped in saying he'd go too.

"Well, apart from homework, me and Ino-chan went to a hot-spring resort together. It was lovely. She had coupons for back massages and mud baths…" Sakura began.

"Mud baths! I never took you for the kinda girl who liked to get dirty!" Kiba laughed.

"I-It's a beauty treatment! Don't take it the wrong way!" Sakura snapped at the boy, her face as pink as her hair with embarrassment even though she tried to look threatening.

"Yeah _sure_ it is. _Beauty treatment_." He nodded, "It isn't working.." he whispered to himself.

"WHAT WAS THAT!" Sakura screeched.

"Hey, take it easy! L-Let's all get along, Sakura-chan! Kiba was only kidding." Narumi gasped, holding Sakura back.

"Y-Yes, Kiba-kun, please don't provoke people…!" Hinata agreed, trying to calm down the boy.

After a while of soothing the two hot-tempered ones, they finally calmed down; although they still kept cautious eyes on one another. Narumi sighed… it was going to take a while for these two to calmly get along.

Sai watched all of this quietly, until Chouji turned to him.

"So who're you? I don't think I've seen you around before." He asked him curiously. Sai looked back at him calmly, before putting a smile in place.

"I am Sai, from class 1-A. I met up with Narumi-kun, Sasuke-kun, and Kiba-kun during the summer break but I've been coming here since the start of the year. It's a pleasure to meet you…. Fatty." He nodded curtly.

Shikamaru looked at him frantically as Chouji lowered his head, his eyes becoming dark, "What… did you call me?" he said.

"He said nothing, Chouji, its okay…!" Shikamaru quickly said, shifting his position to try and get between the two. As everyone watched in alarm, knowing full well what was going to happen, Sai blinked at the situation he was in, clueless.

"I said…" Sai began.

"Just shut up if you know what's good for you, Dai!" Kiba yelled at him. Sai was about to correct Kiba on his name before Chouji snapped.

"I'M NOT FAT! I'M JUST A LITTLE BIG-BONED, YOU JERK! GRAAAH!" Chouji charged.

"Damn it! Jeez… why something so troublesome like this at the beginning of a new term…?" Shikamaru sighed, massaging his temples.

This Sai guy…either he was completely oblivious, or stupid, or just had a death wish! How would he survive in a group with so many hot-heads and short-tempered people…?

Meanwhile….Sai had no idea what he'd done wrong.

* * *

"Huh? The Cultural Festival?" Kakashi's final period geography/homeroom class called out in wonder at he announced the annual Cultural Festival.

Kakashi nodded, "That's right. It's next month, September 12th. We, as class 1-B, need to organise our own event to hold on the day. It has to be something you've all done as classmates together, and I'm supposed to only offer a minimal amount of help. Class rep, you're up. Tell me when you've decided on an event." He said, waving over to Ino for her to stand up and come to the chalkboard at the front. After that was done, he casually whipped out his book and picked up on the page he left off from.

With a disapproving from, Ino got up from her seat and came up to the front.

"Alright, guys! Let's get this started – has anybody got any suggestions?" Ino asked, looking across the classroom at her classmates.

A boy waved his hand, "Oh, oh, how about a maid café?" he called out, wriggling his eyebrows at her and she creased her nose, disgusted.

"Hey I like that idea, too!" Kiba gasped, nodding in agreement. Sasuke eyed him, as if to say '_I bet you do…idiot._' And Kiba promptly glared at him, and Sasuke looked away.

"If the girls have to wear maid costumes then the guys should have to dress up too! In waiter's outfits!" a girl said.

"Oh! I bet Sasuke-kun would look great in a waiters outfit!" another girl gasped.

"Eek! I want to see it!" a third girl squealed. Narumi rolled her eyes. If they wanted that, they just had to crowd up her part time job like they always did anyway. And she didn't want to have to put up with that at _school_as well.

So she decided to protest to what looked like a unanimous (as far as girls went) vote, by kicking her legs up on the table crudely.

"No way, no way! I'm not wearing no maid costume, that's just perverted!" she announced loudly and most girls glared at her to tell her to shut up.

"Narumi, have some decency and put your legs down. You're showing off unnecessary things!" Ino and Sakura yelled at her, the latter threatening her with a balled fists. Narumi flinched and quickly lowered her legs from the desk. With the way Sakura was yelling at her all the time, she wondered if they really were back to being friends, or if this is just how she reacted to everyone…

Ino massaged her brow irritably, "If we can't do the maid/waiter café idea then what do _you_ suggest Narumi?" she asked the other blond.

Narumi hummed thoughtfully, pondering over what could be cool. How about…a haunted house? It was in September…that was close to Halloween right? So what if it was off by a month! This could be pretty fun! Yeah!

At this, she grinned excitedly, "Alright, listen up!" she said raising to her feet and slamming her hand onto the desk, "I say we do a _haunted house_! It'll be totally—"

"Unoriginal." Sasuke cut in, spoiling her mood. She pouted at him.

"Sasuke-kun's right! When the other classes are brainstorming ideas, they'll definitely consider a haunted house too. We need something original that'll attract attention!" Sakura agreed with Sasuke.

"Of course you'll agree with _him_. Well, won't a lot of people choose the café idea too?" Narumi argued.

"Good point, that's probably true, Narumi." Ino said and Narumi was surprised. Ino was backing her up? "However, we have an advantage! We have _Sasuke-kun_!" Ino said with an excited smile, and then began to imagine Sasuke as a waiter, serving her tea and pastries.

"YEAH!" the rest of the Sasuke-fan-girls in the class agreed. Narumi let her forehead hit the desk. Sometimes—no scratch that, it had _always_ bugged her how everything lead to the topic of Sasuke when it came to most of the girls in her class.

It looked like the haunted house idea was as good as rejected. Everyone had ganged up against her…

* * *

Elsewhere, in the secretary's office, secretary Shizune had been called out to assist the school nurse with a first-year student who seemed to have been body-slammed by something large. Konan took this opportunity to take a look inside. She immediately went to the filing cabinets, that she was sure held the student records in it, and brought out a hair-clip to pick the lock on it.

Pulling it open, she began to sift through the alphabetical tags, 'R' through 'U' until she reached the 'U' section…

'_Uchiha… Uemitsu… Urushima, Utagata… Uzumaki…_' Her eyes settled on Uzumaki, and she let a slight smile trace her lips, before wiping it way and hurriedly pulling it out. She opened it and began to let her eyes run over the text.

"Hmm…where's the new address…" she murmured.

"Hey Shizuneeee! Have you seen my—hey what're you doing in here?" Tsunade Senju, the headmistress of Konoha Highschool blinked, now covering up her casual posture with a serious and cautious look.

Konan snapped the file shut at stuffed it back in the cabinet. She closed it behind her as she faced the busty, blonde woman calmly.

"I was merely waiting for Shizune-san to return. I had something I needed to talk with her about." She said.

"And what would you take up with Shizune that you couldn't with me, the _headmistress_ of this establishment?" Tsunade asked her, a frown set on her expression. Konan didn't flinch.

"It's nothing urgent. She isn't here, so I will wait until the next time I see her when I ask her about it." Konan said, and made her way towards the door Tsunade stood at. She bowed her head in respect, "Please excuse me, Tsunade-sama." She murmured, and the woman cautiously moved out of her way. She watched the blue-haired woman walk away suspiciously.

That was the new substitute teacher they'd hired just the other day…

Tsunade quickly went over to the filing cabinet and opened the one Konan had been rooting through. '_The student information files… Hmm, surnames R through U… what could a substitute teacher want with that information…?_' she thought to herself, her frown becoming more prominent.

"Eh? T-Tsunade-sama, what're you doing here? I told you, I'm not giving you back your sake until you've finished signing those papers…!" Shizune's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"I've finished them." She said matter-o-factly, though Shizune wasn't sure if she could believe her, "Anyway, just now… that substitute teacher we hired was in here looking for you." She said.

"Eh? Konan-san? I passed by her on my way back here…but she didn't pay any attention to me." Shizune blinked, confused.

Tsunade hummed, "She was looking through the student information files. She must have picked their locks." She said and Shizune was alarmed, "I want you to move the files. Keep them somewhere else." She said.

"Wh-what? But why? You don't think Konan-san is up to something do you?" Shizune worriedly asked.

Tsunade gazed towards the cabinets, "I have a few theories." She said, and began towards the doors, "Do as I asked, Shizune. I have a call or two to make." She said, leaving Shizune's office.

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Shizune said, hurriedly getting to work.

* * *

**Kin:** Thanks this time to Shrapnel-chan, MelissaKS, angelvan105, and stealthclaw for reviewing the previous chapter! I really appreciate it! Here's another chapter! I hope that everyone'll like this one too. I feel a bit like I kinda made the scene with the gang all chatting about what they did over summer break slightly filler-ish, but I wanted to set up the group as it works with Sakura and Sai with them now. :) Sai was fun as always to write!

So...the cultural festival. A lotta stuff's planned to happen around that time. I hope you guys'll like it. This story's heading towards the end now. I reckon around 25 chapters in total.

Hope you guys'll continue to support me towards the end. It'll not be my last femnaru story either. Got another one planned already to start after this is done. Heheh.

Thanks for reading! Please review!


	17. Suspicion & Superstition!

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own Naruto/Naruto Shippuden. All characters are copyrighted to Masashi Kishimoto._

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**Suspicion & Superstition**

* * *

"Tsunade-sama, _please_! You…can't…drink…at… the school… like this..!" Shizune was desperately fighting a losing battle of tug-of-war with a bottle of liquor against Konoha High School's principal, Tsunade Senju.

Tsunade, equally determined, glared at Shizune, "I don't _care_, Shizune! _He's_ coming today, so I'm going to need this more than ever." She said, pulling the bottle with all she had.

"Tsunade-sama, you'll just have to endure him. Being intoxicated on the job could damage your reputation and this school's! You're the principal!" the dark-haired secretary gasped.

"Shizune, I'm going to lose my temper if you don't—"

"Please, Tsunade-same, it really isn't the place for this kind of thing!"

"Is that Shiranui-san?" Tsunade suddenly asked and Shizune blushed, letting the bottle go in surprise to turn around. Seeing no sight of the Physical Ed teacher, Shizune turned back to the principle, and gasped to see her going for a bottle opener to pull out the cork.

"Ha-hi! Tsunade-sama—" she was cut off as the door was practically kicked open by a new guest.

"Hey, what's shaking! Long time no see, Tsunade-hime! Who'd have thought you'd be the one to call this time, but I suppose it's not hard to see why. After all, I am the great, and gallant, top-selling smash-hit author, Jiraiy—agh! Watch where you're throwing that thing! Someone'd think you were trying to hit me." Jiraiya gasped, dodging a glass bottle as it when careening into the wall beside him.

Tsunade merely glared at Jiraiya. Why did she think calling him was a good idea again? Oh yeah…that Konan girl.

"Glad you could make it," she said through gritted teeth, "Let's get to the point. You remember our conversation over the phone…?" she asked him.

Jiraiya sighed at his childhood friend's coldness, and stepped over the broken glass and pool of liquor to take a seat in front of Tsunade's desk.

"I do… but are you sure the girl's name was Konan Wakeshima? Not Wakemura? How am I to know she's really the same kid I fostered all those years ago?" He asked.

Tsunade brought out a file and opened it, showing Jiraiya the woman's photo, "Then let's make sure we're clear on her identity. Is she the girl you know?" she asked him.

Jiraiya picked up the file and looked at the photo. He sucked in a breath, "That's Konan all right." He muttered, furrowing his brows, "But…why would she do something like that? She was always a good girl. Heck, they were _all_ great kids." He said.

"Well, it's been years since you've seen them Jiraiya. People can easily change according to life's circumstances and the hands they are dealt." Tsunade reasoned.

"Yeah, but breaking into confidential school records? And you say she was likely looking for information on _Minato's kid_? That's so far from like Konan that there's no way I can believe it!" he said in disbelief.

Tsunade paused, "Well it could just as easily have been about the Uchiha kid. But what could she want with him? It doesn't make sense."

"I hear ya," Jiraiya nodded in agreement, and they were silent a moment, as Shizune swept up the glass in the background, "I'll give Yahiko a call. See if he can tell me anything. Those three are so close, they're probably all still living together today." He said, fishing out his cellphone.

It was then that the phone on Tsunade's desk rang and she picked it up, "Hello, Konoha High-school, Principal's office, Principle Tsunade Senju speaking. How can I help you," she asked, and paused to listen.

"Well, well…it's been a while since I've heard _your_ voice. But you won't find Kakashi-kun in here. I'll forward your call to the staff office." She said, and began dialing a few numbers.

"Who is it?" Jiraiya asked Tsunade, blinking.

"Normally it wouldn't be your business, Jiraiya…" she paused, and Jiraiya sweat-dropped, "However…this time… well. It's Minato-kun." She said.

"What? No way, I haven't heard from the little runt in months! Pass 'im over to me!" Jiraiya gasped.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "Weren't you already calling Yahiko-kun?" she asked.

"Ahh.. right." Jiraiya sighed.

"Besides, it sounded like he really wanted to talk to Kakashi-kun about something. You can call him any time." She reasoned, and began forwarding the call.

"I _guess_ so, but still…" Jiraiya grumbled and Tsunade rolled her eyes at him.

* * *

It was a little under a week until Konoha High-school's annual cultural festival and class 1-B were nearing the completion of their preparations. Most of the waiter and waitress costumes were nearly completed. Kiba pulled at a collar that was just a little too tight, frowning. He suspected this was punishment from Sakura for all the comments he kept making…she seemed to be pleased with her handiwork.

He snorted, turning away from the smirking Haruno, spotting some other girls in his class chattering away with blushing, smiling faces.

"…you're thinking of confessing?"

"Yes! After all, you know how the legend goes…if I do then there's a good chance…!"

At that, the girls broke into an annoying fan-girlish squeal and the Inuzuka winced at the sound. They were gonna confess to Sasuke, he bet. Some stupid legend wasn't gonna make him say yes to them…Kiba thought the girls were delusional as usual.

"Jeez….why do I have to do this again? This outfit is so dumb!" Kiba turned at the sound of Narumi's complaints, and caught a glimpse of her in her maid-uniform. She looked less than pleased, but Kiba could testify that Ino's sewing skills were not to be matched. Narumi looked great in the red and white outfit. He grinned stupidly, and gave a wolf-whistle.

To which, Narumi turned as red as her outfit, and glared at him. He only laughed at her humiliation.

"Kibaaaaa! That's not funny!" she whined, stomping towards him.

"Oh come on! Why're you complaining anyway? It looks great on you. It's no different to your part-time job's uniform!" Kiba pointed out and a smug Ino joined the two.

"Why _thank you_!" she smirked at Kiba, before turning to Narumi, "Come on it's not over yet. We've gotta add the finishing touches!" she said, dragging Narumi off.

"Noooooo! Kiba, stop this mad-woman!"

"Who are you calling a mad-woman!"

"_You!_!"

"Have fun!" Kiba laughed and waved them off. He let out a sigh, and rested his chin in his hand thoughtfully, watching Ino drag his crush away. He wondered if those girls silly legends actually came true…no, what was he thinking!

He screwed his eyes shut and quickly shook his head. It was too embarrassing to do something like that so publicly…!

Sakura walked over towards the dog-lover, looking curious. "What's wrong with you? Collar too tight?" she asked, subtly teasing him.

Kiba frowned at her, subconsciously holding his collar, "I wonder who's fault that is," he scoffed, but Sakura didn't bat an eye, "I was just thinking about this silly rumour I overheard just now…the girls were saying how if you confessed to someone during the cultural festival, they'd return your feelings. Crap like that only happens in Shoujo manga!" he explained.

Sakura hit him over the head, "Idiot! That's so no true," she said and Kiba looked at her incredulously, wondering why she'd had to hit him for that; "The rumour is based on truth, in actuality! See, a few years ago, a third year student confessed to the boy she liked ever since her second year, and even though everybody said he'd never return her feelings, they were proved wrong! The boy said yes, and now that couple is rumoured to be engaged to marry!" Sakura said, and sighed out, '_And this year, we're gonna be the ones who live happily ever after with Sasuke-kun, shannarou!_' her inner-self cheered excitedly, punching the sky.

At this thought, Sakura squee'd excitedly, and Kiba looked at her strangely.

He rolled his eyes, and got up, "What_ever_!" he muttered, "I'm heading out to get some food…" he said, leaving Sakura to her daydreams.

_The Legend of the Cultural Festival Couple…. _Kiba wouldn't admit it out loud, but he himself was wondering if he could be the same with Narumi…should he try confessing again…?

Well…he _had_ been looking for the opportunity since that weird photographer guy Sai had ruined it last time…

As he walked down the corridors heading for the students' shop, he passed by a group, who were chatting rather loudly with each other.

"Did you hear? Last weekend at shooting set for that new action film, that famous martial artist Fuu Takine disappeared into thin air!" said one guy.

"I read about that! The police are saying it's just a missing person's case…they'll sort it out, they say. But I have my doubts." Another guy declared.

"Ahh. That's how they all start. They don't wanna worry people, so they say 'oh they're missing, but we'll find them'! Wanna know what I think?" asked the first boy and the others in the group looked interested. Kiba himself had paused to listen. "I think someone took Fuu-sama! An' they've got her locked up in their hideout or something! Like a crazed stalker fan! Apparently, Fuu-sama has a lot of 'em!"

"Ehh, don't say that, Hitori-kun!" a girl squeaked, creeped out.

"What, like _you_? You watch too many movies, man!" laughed a third guy

"Hey I'm not a stalker, shut up!"

"The shrine says otherwise…"

"But that reminds me…there was a stunt guy who disappeared too, wasn't there? It said it in the papers. I'm getting really creeped out!"

The chatter faded as Kiba continued on his way down to the student's shop…Lots of crazy disappearances had been happening lately, and he had to admit, it was starting to bug him too. Especially when he heard about that Gaara guy from Narumi and Shikamaru. He'd seen the guy just a few months back…it was hard to believe he was a missing person now.

Kiba shook his head. It wasn't like it was his business. Like those kids were saying, the police'd handle it, like they always do.

* * *

Meanwhile in the staff office, Iruka had just about given up on trying to get Kakashi to return to supervise his class. He had a free period right now, and he was _going_ to mark some papers, but he'd decided he could just do those in the classroom while he made sure Kakashi's class got on with it. After all, there were the likes of Narumi, Kiba and Shikamaru in the class, who were well-known as slacker extraordinaires.

Packing up his test papers and putting them under his arm, he turned to frown at Kakashi, about to tell him he was off.

He was cut off by the phone ringing, and promptly picked it up, "Hello? Oh, Principle Tsunade, how may I help you?"

"Kakashi's got a caller…but they got my office instead of the staff office. He's probably there since his class is preparing for the cultural festival, right? Hand it over to him." Tsunade's voice came through the receiver.

Iruka twitched…good guess.

He gave an affirmative, and turned to the silver-haired teacher reading at his desk, "Kakashi, the principal says you've got a call." He said, holding the phone towards him.

Kakashi blinked, looking up from his book, before slowly getting up and strolling towards Iruka, "Going somewhere, Iruka? You're free this period aren't you? …Hello, ma'am?" he asked, putting the phone to his ear.

"Yeah I'm going…to watch _your _class!" Iruka snapped, before sighing and rushing off, muttering unintelligible things.

Kakashi blinked at the brunet's departing figure, before shrugging, "Who's calling, principal?" he asked, taking a seat at Iruka's desk and bringing out his book again to read.

"I'll redirect you to him now. You know him." Tsunade said and Kakashi's eyebrows raised curiously. There was a dial tone, for a few minutes, before the caller picked up.

"Kakashi-kun?" the questioning voice came.

Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise, and after a moment he sighed out lightly, and once he was composed, he responded, "Minato-sensei. What can I do for you? What's the occasion?" he asked the caller.

After a short pause, Minato replied hesitantly, "….Just wanted to catch up." He said softly. Kakashi's dark eyes rolled over to the phone against his ear.

"Are you sure that's all?" he asked.

"Mm." came the reply. Kakashi sighed out lightly, but didn't question Minato. Minato continued, "Kakashi-kun... I heard you took Narumi-chan back from Gai-kun. How is she settling in?" he asked.

"Well enough. Pakkun and the others love her. She's already a part of the pack. Though she's not too pleased about having to share a bed with Bull." Kakashi replied with a chuckle, "She's doing well." He added.

There was a sigh of relief, "That's great." Minato said.

Kakashi paused, "Excuse me for being abrupt. But every time you call me it always seems to be about Narumi-kun. Sensei…are you thinking of finally meeting her?" he asked, and heard Minato gasp, followed by a loud clattering noise. Kakashi blinked, listening to a rustling noise as, apparently, Minato picked the phone back up.

"Umm…uhh." Minato tripped over his words, wondering how to put it. "M-Maybe… Actually… I actually saw her last month, on her way to school… She looked so much like her…I… was surprised." he fell into a silence. Kakashi waited for him to speak again.

"Have you seen the news reports?" Minato finally spoke, his voice subdued and anxious.

"Which ones?" Kakashi asked.

"The missing persons reports. Just today they announced the actors Takine and Iwashi* missing. And then there was Sabaku industries heir… Yugito Nii, and that prodigy scientist…and A**'s nephew has been attacked three times now." Minato said.

"Ah yes. I've seen them…." Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement. He perceptively added, "Are you worried about Narumi-kun, sensei?" he asked.

Minato breathed out, "How can I not be? Don't you see the pattern that's emerging?" he asked, "Takine and Iwashi both come from families of old money. I knew their parents. The Sabaku boy's father too. Miss Nii and Killer Bee both link to A', and he and I were…"

"Yeah I noticed. That's why I'm keeping an especially close eye on her now, and have her staying in my apartment with the pack and I." he explained.

"Then why are you in the teacher's office? I heard someone yelling about going to supervise your class for you." Minato blinked.

"Ah…that. Well, she is surrounded by her friends and classmates right now. I don't believe the 'Akatsuki' would dare to infiltrate school grounds. It's too risky." He shook his head. Minato made a grunting sound that didn't sound too convinced. "And I have faith that Iruka will watch over them too. He's a natural mother hen." He added as an after-thought, amusedly.

"That's supposed to be your job you know."

"Well…"

"The Cultural Festival for your school is coming up isn't it?" Minato asked, pausing slightly. Kakashi gave him an immediate affirmative. He was glad to steer the conversation away from the fact that he was ditching his class to read certain…novels.

"Narumi's class is holding a maid-butler café as their attraction. She's not too pleased at having to wear a maid outfit. I keep hearing her yelling 'too many frills' from down the halls." Kakashi said. Minato chuckled.

"Kushina never liked wearing anything frilly either. She was a real tomboy…but I still thought she was beautiful …" he trailed off. Kakashi nodded.

"The festival is open to the public you know. You could see her. I could… maybe arrange it?" He said gently. He didn't want to push his sensei into anything…but it had already been 15 years now. It had been long enough now to heal.

"…Yeah. I'd like that." Minato softly replied, sounding a little distant - deep in thought.

Kakashi smiled faintly beneath his mask, "I'll see you soon then." He said.

* * *

Sasuke returned to his home after school that day, closing the door with a sigh. Kicking off his shoes and replacing them with slippers, he padded along the hall to his room to change. A figure stepped out from the living area to greet him, and he paused. Coal eyes met coal.

"Itachi." Sasuke acknowledged coolly, "You're back from university." He added.

Itachi Uchiha, was Sasuke's older brother, 21 years old and currently studying for a Master's Degree in law and psychology. He was rarely at home, and when he was, it was usually for a reason. Which was why Sasuke asked.

"What are you doing here?"

Itachi acknowledged the question with a slight nod, "I'm back to meet with an acquaintance. She had some concerns she and a friend wished to discuss. I'm already far along enough in my course that a few days does not damage my education." He replied.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded, and continued to his room.

Itachi turned to him, arms folded, "Sasuke." He called, and Sasuke paused to glance back at him over his shoulder slightly. "Father's home." He said, and Sasuke subtly flinched.

After a moment, Sasuke nodded in reply and continued on his way.

Hours later, dinner had been prepared by Itachi, and it was brought to the dinner tables in sets of three. Itachi took his seat next to Sasuke, and the brothers faced their father sitting on the opposite side of the table.

Fugaku Uchiha, the boys' father, was the chief of police, and a very detached and serious man. Since the passing of his wife, he'd become more and more absorbed by his work. The cases, and capturing the villains of society, was everything and he rarely spent time with his sons. Though he held his eldest in high regard, proud of his scholarship attainment, he paid little attention to his youngest, regardless of his achievements. Sasuke was past desperately seeking his father's attention as he had done when he was little. It had always seemed like no matter what he did, he was always in his brother's shadow. Now…it didn't matter. He was too distant. Without mother…nothing could reach their father anymore.

The man in question spoke up, startling his sons, "Sasuke." He paused, and examined his youngest. Sasuke looked at him warily, but kept eye-contact with his father's stony gaze, "I've received notice that your school's cultural festival is coming up. What type of stand has your class arranged?" he asked.

Sasuke paused, before responding, "A café, sir." He said straightly.

"A café…Hn." Fugaku nodded, lowering his head to bring some of his dinner to his mouth via chopsticks. The room fell into a heavy silence as the three Uchiha ate, for a good fifteen minutes. "And how is that little friend of yours…Uzumaki." He added, surprising the boys again.

Sasuke felt no need to restrain his surprise, but kept his voice even, "She's… doing well. Loud-mouthed and annoying as always." He replied. Fugaku merely nodded, and Sasuke decided to shake off the surprise, opting to finish his dinner and forget the strange enquiry.

Itachi however, discreetly narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Will you be attending Sasuke's school's festival, father?" Itachi asked.

Fugaku snorted slightly, "No. I'm much too busy to take time away from the office. Especially with the recent missing persons scandal." He said, finishing his plate and taking it to the sink.

Hn…Sasuke expected as much. He ignored to dull ache in his chest, and brushed away Itachi's hand when it landed on his shoulder.

He didn't care.

* * *

It's been WAY too long since my last update, like always. I can't apologize enough. My motivation's been glaringly missing lately. And I had like 3 deadlines in one week after Christmas. Guh!

I'm planning to start up some new stories. I'm hoping that giving myself more options for stories'll make it easier for me to update…eh.

Well this chapter is setting things up for the climax. Hope you like it. Let me know what you think! What do you think of Minato and Fugaku's appearances?

Ah, I hope that Kakashi and Minato's conversation made sense…it did in my head. Do you guys understand what's going on according to the conversation. Let me know if I need to look over it and make it easier to understand. I'll try my best to correct it!

PS. I think I screwed up on Jiraiya's characterization. I didn't think he'd be so hard to write. X(

***Takine and Iwashi.** Fuu and the jinchuuriki for the five-tailed horse-dolphin thing (who's name I always forget), don't have surnames to my knowledge. All I know is Fuu is from Takigakure, hence surname Taki-ne; and the four-tail jinchuuriki is from Iwagakure, hence Iwa-shi. I just did this to give them a name to call them in the fanfic.

****A** – In Naruto Shippuden the Raikage's called 'Killer A' or something right? So A is the Raikage in this universe. When Minato said Yugito Nii and Killer B were connected to A', he means they are both signed through Killer A's talent agency. I just didn't think it necessary to the plot development to mention in their conversation, plus it was kind of a tangent. But thought you might like to know anyways. Yup. =)

Thanks for reading! Love you guys!

_**-Kin**_


End file.
